Chikkamagaluru: Bride-to-be and Parents Die in Ghastly Road Mishap near Gonibeedu

Chikkamagaluru: In a ghastly road mishap that took place near Gonibeedu in Mudigere taluk in the early hours of Tuesday, three of a family died on the spot and another of them, besides the driver, were severely injured.

The vehicles involved in the collision were a KSRTC bus plying from Mangaluru towards Chikkamagaluru and a car arriving from Bengaluru towards Mudigere. The mishap occurred around 2 am.

The victims of the mishap are Krishnappa (60), Sharadamma (45) and Lavanya (26), the elder of their two daughters, from Mudigere. The second daughter, Chaitra, and Sandesh who drove the car have been severely injured and have been admitted to a hospital in Mangaluru.

Lavanya had studied up to PUC and had begun working in a private firm in Bengaluru to support the parents who were small-time farmers. She was engaged to a young man from Hassan about three months ago and the marriage was to take place on May 16. Similarly, Chaitra had taken up a job nearer home.

They travelled by a car belonging to Yashodhar Bhat of Banakal to Bengaluru to join the boy’s family for the purpose of buying clothes for the wedding together as is the tradition. Krishnappa’s family members also went around Bengaluru to hand over wedding invitations to all their relatives.

Sandesh, hailing from Banakal, was driving the car. On their way back from Bengaluru, a little while before they reached Mudigere, the car had a head-on collision with the KSRTC night bus plying from Mangaluru. Basavaraju, the driver of the bus, has been arrested.

The house that had been painted for the big day, with preparations going on over the past three months, is now shrouded in a pall of gloom and sorrow,