After being felicitated by Andhra Pradesh Governor E S L Narasimhan and Chief Minister K Rosaiah in Hyderabad, both Lenin and Chatterjee were returning to Vijayawada when they met with the accident.
The mishap occurred when Lenin, who was driving a car, lost control of the vehicle while trying to avoid an autorickshaw, which came on the wrong side of the road, and hit a road divider near Jupudi around 1:30 am. Ritul, along with Lenin’s father Satyanarayana Cherukuri and his cousin and driver, who all were in the vehicle when the accident occurred, escaped unhurt.
Lenin’s another trainee Chittibomma Jignas too was felicitated at the function. Jignas won a silver medal in the men’s compound category in the Commonwealth Games along with seasoned archer Chinna Raju Sridhar. However, Jignas chose to travel by bus with his family, thus escaping the accident. Lenin had won many medals in national and international events, including in the Asian archery competitions.
He had been running the Volga Archery Academy at Vijayawada in memory of his sister Volga. Volga, who was also an archer, also died in a road accident around five years ago.
Lenin’s father Satyanarayana is founder president of Krishna District Archery Association and has been involved in grooming many national and international archers through the Volga Academy.
