Hyderabad: Three devotees from Karnataka were killed and seven of their relatives suffered injuries when their four-wheeler rammed into a roadside culvert in Nagarkurnool district on Saturday. The victims from Vijayapura district were en route to Srisailam Mallikarjuna Swamy temple in Andhra Pradesh to celebrate Mahashivaratri festival.Urkonda SI P Krishna Deva, said the deceased were Ram Reddy Desai, 52, a businessman, his wife Megha Desai, 38, and their relative, Mahadevi, 68. The three victims along with 13 others in two vehicles started from Kalikeri village on Friday night to go to Srisailam.Around 2.30am, when they reached Timmapally village in Nagarkurnool, one of the vehicles crashed into a road-side culvert. All the 10 people in the vehicle, including the driver, Raju, suffered injuries. Their relatives in the vehicle ahead, with the help of passers-by, took the injured pilgrims to a nearby private hospital in Veldenda.“Three of the injured pilgrims succumbed while undergoing treatment,” Krishna Deva said. Among the seven injured, there are two women. “The condition of the injured is stable,” the SI said.Police performed breath analyser test on Raju and he tested negative. Police suspect Raju may have dozed off, resulting in the accident. On the complaint of the victims’ family member, K Gouda, Urkonda police registered a case under Sections 106 (1) (causing death by negligence) and 125 (a) (causing hurt by an act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Bharatiya Naya Sanhita (BNS). The bodies were handed over to their families after the post-mortem examination.
