BENGALURU: A 48-year-old director and CEO of a software company, along with five members of his family, including three children, were crushed to death after a container lorry carrying 40 tonnes of cement poles fell on their SUV in a serial accident on the busy Bengaluru-Tumakuru National Highway-4 near Talekere under Nelamangala police station limits at 11 am on Saturday.
According to the police, the container lorry driver, who was driving towards Bengaluru, lost control of the vehicle while trying to avoid hitting a car that stopped abruptly in front of his truck. The truck driver, identified as Harif Ansari from Jharkhand, swerved to the extreme right, hit another lorry, and crossed the median, resulting in the container toppling on the SUV, killing all the six people on the spot.
The deceased have been identified as Chandrayagappa Gaul (46), MD and CEO of IAST Software Solutions, his wife Gaurbai (40), who works in the same firm, his sister Vijayalakshmi (35), his son Jaan (16), daughter Deeksha (10), and niece Arya (6). All were residents of HSR Layout and hailed from Vijayapura district.
Bengaluru Rural SP CK Baba told the media that the family was travelling to their hometown in Vijayapura district in a brand new SUV.
The police had a tough time removing the bodies from the mangled SUV. The truck driver suffered severe injuries and is in critical condition.
Meanwhile, traffic was hit on the busy highway for over two hours.
‘gaul built a successful career after a lot of struggle’
The driver of the second truck suffered minor injuries.
The bodies of all the six victims were sent to the Nelamangala government hospital for an autopsy. In his statement to the police, container lorry driver Harif Ansari said that he was driving at 40 kmph from Dobbspete to Bengaluru when a car in front of him suddenly slowed down, forcing him to apply brakes too.
Ansari, however, said he lost control of his truck, and hit the median, resulting in the container toppling on the SUV. Ansari told the police that he does not recall what happened after the truck toppled and expressed grief over the loss of six lives.
The Nelamangala traffic police registered a case against the driver, and are conducting further investigation.
Shashikanth, a nephew of Chandrayagappa Gaul, said that his uncle had struggled throughout his life, eventually building a successful career and starting his own company — IAST Software Solutions — in HSR Layout. He added that the family had purchased the vehicle (KA 01 ND 1536) in October and were on their way to their hometown in Vijayapura.
Srinivas, an accounts manager at Gaul’s firm, said, “I was shocked when I heard the news of the accident. I immediately rushed to the spot. I have been working with Gaul for the last five years. We were planning to move the office to a new building in January.”
Srinivas said that Gaul told him earlier this week that he was going to visit his father in Vijayapura district, who was ill. “He said he would spend a week there and then return to the city. He instructed me to oversee the company operations in his absence,” Srinivas added.
