HYDERABAD: In what appears to be a case of rash driving and overspeeding, Nishith Narayana, son of Andhra Pradesh minister Ponguri Narayana, and his close friend Raja Ravi Verma, died after the speeding SUV in which they were travelling rammed into a Metro Rail pillar in Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad in the early hours of Wednesday. Police suspect both men may have been inebriated at the time of the accident and are awaiting postmortem reports.
At 3am on Wednesday, 23-year-old Nishith, director of the family-owned Narayana Educational Institutions, and his friend Raja, son of businessman K Bala Muralikrishna, were returning from the main office of Narayana educational institutions at Narayanaguda.
As the vehicle reached the stretch of Jubilee Hills Checkpost-Peddamma temple, Nishith, who was at the wheel, lost control of the vehicle while turning at Jubilee Hills Road 36. The car crashed into Metro Rail Pillar No 9-R leaving the front portion of the vehicle completely damaged. Both Nishith and Ravi received head injuries and were stuck in the wreckage.
Neither had been wearing a seatbelt. Even as passersby tried to help, police patrolling staff swung into action. “We found both Nishith and his friend Ravi dead while retrieving them from the vehicle. We shifted them to a private hospital where doctors declared them brought dead. Osmania mortuary doctors were asked to come to the private hospital where postmortem examinations were performed,” police said.
Police said that Closed Circuit Television footage of the accident revealed that overspeeding was the main cause of the mishap. Investigation officer and Jubilee Hills SI Maqsood Ali said though the vehicle’s airbags were deployed, they did little to save the victims as the impact was very high. “We are yet to know if the two were drunk at time of accident. It will be revealed in the post mortem report,” police said.
Minister Narayana who was travelling to London with a team of officers on official business, cancelled his trip on hearing of his son’s demise. He was to arrive in Chennai Wednesday night and and proceed to his native town of Nellore where the final rites of Nishith are scheduled to take place Thursday. The body of Ravi was handed over to his parents in Bangalore.