Visakhapatnam: Founder-president of GITAM University Dr M.V.V.S. Murthi, a noted industrialist and Telugu Desam senior leader, and three others were killed in a road accident in the US on Monday afternoon.
Dr Murthi and his friends had gone to the US on September 15 to attend GITAM Alumni Association of North America (GANAM), which is scheduled for October 6 at Milpitas of California.
The other victims were identified as Veluvolu Trust managing trustee Veluvolu Basavapunnaiah, Veeramachaneni Siva Prasad and V.B.R. Chowdhary. The fifth person in the car was the well-known social entrepreneur Kadiyala Venkata Ratnam (Gandhi); he suffered severe injuries and is reportedly in a critical condition.
The Telugu Association of North America is coordinating with officials to bring back the mortal remains of the victims to their native place. The process will begin after the autopsy. Family members flying to Alaska to assist will need to fly into Anchorage, Alaska.
Dr Murthi is survived by his sons M. Rama Rao and M. Laxman Rao, Hyderabad-based industrialists, and his daughter and six grandchildren, his wife Savitri Devi pre-deceased him in the year 2007. Dr Murthi was a Legislative Council member of Andhra Pradesh.
Dr Murthi was an alumnus of the Andhra University and held a doctorate in economics from AU. “I was shocked to learn about the sudden death of Dr Murthi. His death is a great loss to Andhra Pradesh and his services as an MP and an MLC are memorable. His death is a deep loss to the field of education and also politics. It is a personal loss to me,” Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu said in a message on learning of the accident.
