Woman collector injured, assistant dead in accident

Collector of Krishnagiri district was today injured in a road accident that left her assistant dead at Namasparai town.

Collector Pooja Kulkarni, along with Deputy Tahsildar Jaishankar, her assistant and driver were on their way to Dharmapuri in a car when it rammed into a bus near a bus stand at Namasparai near Krishnagiri, police said.

The assistant, Muniraj, died while being taken to hospital, they said.

Kulkarni was taken to a government hospital at Krishnagiri, which referred her to a private hospital in Bangalore, they said.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa expressed shock over the accident and condoled the death of the assistant.

In a statement, she also announced a solatium of Rs one lakh to Muniraj's family from the chief minister's Public Relief Fund and wished the injured a speedy recovery.