Musician Balabhaskar injured; child killed in accident

The two-year-old daughter of noted violinist and music composer Balabhaskar was killed in a road accident in the early hours of Tuesday, near Pallipuram, about 15 km from Thiruvananthapuram.

The musician and his wife Lakshmi who both sustained serious injuries in the accident are undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram.

The driver of the car, Arjun, is reported to have lost control over the car the family was travelling in. He is learnt to have dozed off, causing the accident. The vehicle veered off the road and rammed a roadside tree. Arjun is also hospitalised.

A team of highway police patrol personnel and local residents pulled the child, Tejaswini, out of the severely damaged car and shifted her to a private hospital where she was declared dead. The incident happened at about 4.30 am. Tejaswini was born 16 years after Balabhaskar and Lakshmi married.

Balabhaskar is reported to have sustained serious spine injuries and multiple fractures. Reports quoting sources in the hospital said in the evening that he underwent a surgery. The 40-year-old musician is noted for his work in instrumental fusion. He made his first public performance, on violin, at the age of 12. At age 17, Balabhaskar became the youngest film music composer in Malayalam with the movie Mangalyapallak.