Father, son among 3 killed in KIA road crash

BENGALURU: Three farmers, including a father and a son, were killed and five others were injured in a serial accident that left three vehicles damaged on the Hunasemaranahalli stretch of the elevated expressway along Ballari Road, near Chikkajala, on Friday.
DCP traffic (north) Sarah Fathima said the accident occurred around 1.05pm when a rashly driven Mahindra Scorpio with six farmers aboard, bound for Bengaluru, hit the median and jumped to the other side, hitting a mini truck and a courier service van coming from the opposite direction.The Scorpio would have hit more vehicles but for the courier van, which took the brunt of the collision, bringing the SUV to a halt. SUV driver BL Ashwath Babu, 40, and Muniraju, 52, who was in the vehi cle, were killed on the spot. Muniraju's son Prashanth M, 33, succumbed to injuries he sustained, at MS Ramaiah Hospital, later in the evening.
All the six aboard the SUV were residents of Handiganala village in Sidlaghatta taluk of Chikkaballapur district, and were on their way to see a relative who was admitted to Sparsh Hospital, Hosur Road, after suffering injuries in a road accident on Thursday.
Chikkajala traffic police rushed to the scene and shifted the injured to a private hospital nearby. The front portion of the SUV was completely mangled. The bodies of Ashwath Babu and Muniraju, who was seated in the front passenger seat, were sent to the Government Hospital in Yelahanka where they were handed over to their families after a postmortem.
“The three others in the SUV, A Ganapati, 40, Darshan, 28, and Nagaraj, 45, courier van driver Manikya and his assistant Bharat suffered serious injuries,“ traffic police said. The injured persons were later referred to MS Ramaiah Hospital. “All the injured are out of danger, barring Nagaraj, who is under medical observation for 24 hours,“ a police officer said.
Police said the accident led to vehicular movement slowing down on the stretch for a few hours. All three vehicles had to be removed with cranes The six farmers were on their way to see a relative who had sustained injuries and was admitted to a hospital on Hosur Road. The men had arranged money for their relative's treatment. “Narayanaswamy, 52, a farmer, was injured seriously on Thursday evening after his bike skid in our village, Handiganala. He was first taken to Nimhans and later referred to Sparsh Hospital. The six farmers who met with the accident were in the hospital till morning, before returning to the village to arrange money. After mobilizing the money , they set out again to the hospital and met with the accident,“ BM Jayaram, a relative of the six farmers, said.
He said all the farmers were close relatives. The SUV was owned by Ashwath Babu, who was driving it.