In tragic news, four people, including Andhra Pradesh MLC and Gitam University director MVVS Murthy, were killed in a car accident in the United States on Tuesday, 2 September. One other person, travelling with them in the car, has been admitted to the hospital in a serious condition, The New Indian Express reported.
Other than Murthy, the other deceased have been identified as Basava Punnaiah, Veeramachineni Sivaramakrishna and VBR Chowdary. The fifth passenger has been identified as Kadiyala Venkataratnam.
Murthy and his companions were travelling from California to Alaska to visit a wildlife safari near Anchorage, when their car collided with a truck that was coming from the opposite direction, the report added.
While two of the passengers in the car died on the spot, two others lost their lives while on their way to the hospital.
Murthy was in the US over the past couple of weeks, as he was scheduled to attend a Gitam University alumnus meet in California on Saturday, 6 October.
A two-time Lok Sabha MP from Visakhapatnam constituency, Murthy was famously called “Goldspot Murthy” after a popular soft drink in Andhra Pradesh in the ’80s, reports The Times of India. The founder of the Gitam institutes, he was also known for having started several new junior and degree colleges in the state.
(With inputs from The New Indian Express and The Times of India)