New Year pilgrimage turns fatal for five of family

A visit to a temple in a newly purchased car for the New Year celebration turned tragic as five persons including three children of a family were killed and 6 others sustained injuries in a road accident near Kunigal in Tumakuru district on Monday.

The deceased were Siddoji Rao (55), a resident of Chowdanakuppe village, his daughter-in-law Usha Bai (25) and three grandchildren Keertan (7), Hitesh (2) and Bhuvan (17).

The injured are Ashwini Bai, Satish Rao, Naveen Rao, Harish Rao, Anasuya Bai and Arun Kumar.

They have been shifted to a private hospital in Bengaluru.

Rao's two sons Harish Rao and Satish Rao run a silkworm rearing unit at Mandya. They had recently purchased an MUV.

They went to Chowdanakuppe, picked their parents up and headed to Goravanahalli to visit a temple for New Year celebration when the accident occurred around 7.30 am, said the police.

The driver lost control over the MUV as Arun Kumar, a local boy, suddenly came on the road near Gavimutt on State Highway 33.

The driver took a turn in order to save the boy and ended up colliding with a goods vehicle parked on the roadside, added the police.

The intensity of the accident was such that heads of Hitesh and Usha Bai were severed from their bodies, while the MUV was completely damaged.

With the help of local residents, the police shifted the injured to Kunigal government hospital. However, they were shifted to the hospital in Bengaluru.