Three Christ College students, including the daughter of a Congress candidate contesting the Assembly elections, were killed on the spot in the early hours of Thursday when their SUV collided with a goods vehicle on the Hosur Road elevated expressway near Chandapura Cross.

According to police, rash and negligent driving was the cause of the accident.
The student driving the SUV was critically injured.

The victims were identified as Sujana (23) and Sangeetha Chatterjee (24), both second-year law degree students and residents of Koramangala and Suddaguntepalya respectively, and Asif, 24, a second-year hotel management student and a resident of a paying guest facility in Suddaguntepalya. Darren, 23, another second-year law degree student, who resides with his parents at Dollar’s Colony in Sanjaynagar, is being treated for multiple injuries at Narayana Hrudayalaya, said the Hebbugodi traffic police.

The accident took place around 1 am when they were on their way to a coffee outlet at Krishnagiri. Darren was behind the wheel when the vehicle collided with the goods vehicle. The SUV was reportedly coming at a very high speed. It is also said that the students were under the influence of alcohol, but the police refused to comment saying they were awaiting post-mortem reports.

Sujana was the daughter of Congress candidate from Sringeri Assembly constituency T R Raje Gowda while Sangeetha hailed from Kolkata and Asif belonged to Kochi in Kerala. Darren is the son of an NRI, Dr Julius Punnen, based in the US.

The goods vehicle driver Venkatesh Kumar told the police that he saw the SUV coming in full speed. “The vehicle was moving in a zig-zag manner.

It ran over the centre median and collided with the front portion of my vehicle before I realised what was happening. The three bodies were crushed inside the vehicle,” he said.
Senior leaders from various parties, including former chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda and MP D B Chandre Gowda, visited Sujana’s relatives at Victoria Hospital. The bodies wer handed over to the families after post-mortem.

Good students

“They were good students. We are shocked as to how and why they went out late night. They were studious. We express grief and are with their parents,” Christ University director, students’ welfare, Fr Viju said. The tragedy took place after the last day of the semester-end exams, he added.