Fiery Nandamuri scion Harikrishna is no more

• Accident occurred at Anneparthy on Narketpally- Addanki road at 6 am
• Fortuner (AP 28 BW 2323) vehicle driven by Harikrishna
• The vehicle overturned after hitting road divider
• The vehicle was reportedly speeding at 160 kmph
• Harikrishna was trying to overtake a vehicle while trying to pick up water bottle from the back of the passenger’s seat

Hyderabad: In a dawn tragedy, Telugu Desam Party politburo member and son of former Chief Minister NT Rama Rao, Nandamuri Harikrishna died in a road accident near Nalgonda on Wednesday.

The accident took place at 6 am at Anneparthy on Narketpally- Addanki road when the Fortuner (AP 28 BW 2323) vehicle driven by himself overturned after hitting the road divider.

He was reportedly speeding at 160 kmph and was trying to overtake a vehicle ahead of him while simultaneously trying to pick up water bottle from the back of the passenger’s seat, when the untoward incident occurred.

Harikrishna fell on the divider on the other side of the road with severe head injuries.

His friends Raavi Venkat Rao and Shivaji who were travelling with him sustained injuries but survived.

On seeing the Fortuner hitting the road divider, local people rushed and tried to help him. They laid him on the side of the road and tried to make him feel comfortable.

Though he appeared unconscious, now and then he moved his hands. His face was splattered with blood and he was groaning occasionally.

As soon as the police arrived, he was shifted to Kamineni hospital in Narketpally where he died while undergoing treatment.

Harikrishna left from his Mehdipatnam house at 4:30 am and was on his way to Kavali in Nellore district to attend a wedding when the accident took place.

Speaking to the media persons, Nalgonda SP A V Ranganath said that due to over speeding the driver lost control, the vehicle hit the road divider and overturned.

Had Harikrishna wore seat belt, he would have escaped with minor injuries, he said.

When the family members knew about the incident they immediately rushed to Kamineni hospital. Kalyan Ram and Junior NTR spoke to the doctors.

Harikrishna’s brother Balakrishna visited the hospital. AP CM Chandrababu Naidu and his son Lokesh reached the Narketpally hospital by helicopter.

After the post-mortem examination in an ambulance, Harikrishna’s body was shifted in the convoy of AP Chief Minister to his Mehdipatnam residence.

The body has been kept there for people to pay their last respects to departed TDP leader. His family members announced that funeral will take place on Thursday at Filmnagar Mahaprasthanam.

The funeral procession will start at 4 pm. The Telangana state government has decided to accord statue funeral to him.

Learning about the incident, NTR family members, fans, friends and leaders of different political parties and film industry personalities visited his Mehdipatnam house.

Police made necessary arrangements for controlling the crowd. Harikrishna is survived by two sons Kalyan Ram, Junior NT Rama Rao and daughter Suhasini. Earlier his elder son Janaki Ram was killed in an accident mishap at Nalgonda in 2014.

Harikrishna served as TDP MLA in 1996-99 and was Transport Minister during Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s tenure. In 2008, he went to Rajya Sabha and was Politburo member of the TDP.

Harikrishna never hesitated to express his ideas before party fora and used to argue with the TDP supremo on several issues.

Later in the afternoon hours, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao paid homage to Harikrishna.

He ordered Chief Secretary SK Joshi to conduct funeral with state honours.

The Chief Minister instructed Joshi to discuss with Harikrishna’s family and make necessary arrangements for the funeral.