HYDERABAD: Telugu film actor Bhupatiraju Bharath Raju, brother of Tollywood actor Ravi Teja, was killed in a road accident when his Skoda crashed into a stationary lorry on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) here last night.
Bharath (45) was travelling alone from Shamshabad to Gachibowli in a car (TS 09 EC 0799) on Saturday night. As he reached Kotwalguda on the ORR stretch, he rammed it into a parked lorry (AP 16 TY 3167) at a speed of about 120 km/hr. Due to the impact, the front portion of the car was stuck under the lorry.
"Bharath died on the spot due to severe head injury. The front portion of the car was completely damaged. His face was severely disfigured in the accident," said inspector M Mahesh.
Bharath Raju's mangled car at ORR in Hyderabad. The inspector added that the lorry had suffered break failure and the driver parked it on the side without using any indicator. The lorry driver had put some branches of trees behind his vehicle, which were not visible.
According to the inspector, though the accident had happened at at around 10 pm on Saturday, the body was identified only on Sunday morning after Bharath's friends and family members reached the spot.
The body has been sent to Osmania General Hopsital for a post-mortem operation and a case has been registered under section 304 A of IPC for investigation.
Bharath was the first of two younger brothers of popular film hero Ravi Teja, whose original name is Bhupatiraju Ravi Shankar Raju. Ravi Teja's family hail from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh.
Ravi Teja skips funeral
Ravi Teja skipped the funeral of his brother Bharat, who was killed in a car crash on Saturday. Telugu film industry sources say that Bharat’s past involvement in drug trafficking cases and a sex racket created a rift between the brothers. Bharat has been arrested for possession of cocaine in the past. Reportedly it is Bharath’s friends and some Telugu actors such as comedian Ali and Raghu Babu who oversaw the funeral arrangements for the deceased actor at the Mahaprasthanam crematorium near Jubilee hills. However, reason given by Ravi’s friends was that the actor didn’t want to see his brother’s battered body.