The Bengaluru police are searching for a blue car believed to have caused the accident that killed a software company chief, his wife, their two children and two others of their family on Saturday.
Chandram Yegapagol, 48, MD and CEO of IAST Software Solutions, and the five others were travelling in his new Volvo XC90 when a container truck coming from the opposite direction with aluminium pillars fell on the SUV around 11 am near Nelamangala.
The truck’s driver, Arif, a native of Jharkhand, was admitted to hospital with injuries. While speaking to the media, Arif blamed the blue car for the accident. “As I was driving, there was a blue car ahead of me, and suddenly, the driver applied the brakes. I was unable to control my vehicle. So to avoid hitting the car, I turned the steering wheel to the right towards the divider, but then I saw another car coming in that direction, so I steered left again. This caused the container, which was loaded with steel, to fall,” he said.
Arif was then unaware that an SUV had been crushed beneath his truck, resulting in the deaths of six people.
The Nelamangala traffic police have booked Arif under sections 281 (rash driving), 125 (a) (any act so rashly or negligently as to endanger human life or the personal safety of others) and 106 (death by negligence) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and are investigating the accident.
An officer said the police have obtained CCTV footage of the incident, which corroborates Arif’s version. “The driver of the blue car may have applied brakes suddenly, either to exit or head towards a restaurant. This led to the accident. We are working to identify the owner of the blue car. When the accident occurred, Chandram also applied his brakes, assuming the container truck was encroaching into his lane, but it fell onto his vehicle,” the officer said.
The other victims of the accident are Yegapagol’s wife Gaurabai, 42; their son Gyan, 16; daughter Deeksha, 12; Yegapagol’s sister-in-law Vijayalakshmi, 36; and her daughter Arya, 6.
Yegapagol and his family lived in HSR Layout. They were en route to his native village, Morbagi, in Maharashtra’s Sangli district, which borders Vijayapura district in Karnataka.
Umesh Murudi, a relative of Yegapagol, expressed disbelief saying that he had conducted extensive research before buying the SUV. “Safety was a priority for him. He checked many vehicles before deciding on the Volvo. He bought the car on 21 October this year,” he added.
According to Yegapagol’s LinkedIn profile, he held a diploma from GPT Gulbarga and a BE from the National Institute of Technology-Karnataka (NITK Surathkal) in electrical and electronics engineering. Throughout his career, Yegapagol held senior positions at companies such as Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions, KPIT Technologies, and Great Wall Motor in China, before founding IAST Software Solutions in Bengaluru in 2018.
The bodies of all six family members were taken to Morbagi for final rites. Srinivasulu, an accounts manager at IAST Software Solutions, said that Yegapagol had come to the office on Friday and celebrated Christmas there. “In a month, we were supposed to move to another building, and a pooja was done recently. He had mentioned he would be out of town for a week to visit his ailing father,” Srinivasulu said.
Shivanna Mallappajipur, a high school teacher of Yegapagol, said he was one of the most talented students he had taught. “His parents are farmers. They provided for his education by selling crops. He secured a rank in his diploma course and used to help villagers find jobs,” he added.
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