KALABURAGI: In a tragic incident, Shivakumar Saxena (57), father of Central University of Karnataka (CUK) student Divyanshu Saxena, died in an autorickshaw accident just 4 km from the varsity campus on Wednesday.
Shivakumar, along with his wife Malati Saxena, had travelled nearly 896 km from Ujjain to attend the convocation ceremony where their son was to receive two gold medals.
The autorickshaw in which they were travelling reportedly overturned, killing Shivakumar on the spot. According to Dr Sangamesh, a faculty member in the Engineering department and Divyanshu’s teacher, the student had invited his parents a few days ago to attend the convocation held on April 22.
Divyanshu was set to receive two gold medals—one for securing the highest marks in his B.Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering, and another gold medal instituted in the name of former Vice-Chancellor A M Pathan for being the overall topper among gold medalists.
Shivakumar Saxena, who is an employee of UCO Bank, left Ujjain along with his wife Malati (homemaker) on Monday evening and arrived here in Kalaburagi on Wednesday morning.
They hired an autorickshaw to go to the CUK hostel where their son Divyanshu was residing. At 9.15 am, when the auto was hardly 4 km away and near Rajasthani Dhaba near Aland Toll Gate, it overturned and Shivakumar died on the spot. His wife (Shivakumar’s wife) Malati sustained injuries.