The family of theatre artiste and television actor Ashok Kumar, who died after he fell into a pit full of sewage in Hanumanthnagar on Sunday, are perplexed as to how the accident occurred.
The distraught family members say that Ashok Kumar was always a careful rider and that they cannot fathom how he could have fallen into the open pit dug up to construct a culvert.
Ashok Kumar’s son Abhishek said: “My father would strictly follow safety guidelines and would not drive in a rash manner or take risks while riding. He wouldn’t even venture outside if there was a drizzle.”
According to him, Ashok Kumar had come back to the city with the troupe he performed at Hosadurga in Chitradurga. On reaching the city, they parted ways. “We were told that he had slept well in the bus and was wide awake when they reached the city so he could not have been drowsy while riding.”
The family had also spoken to Ashok Kumar’s friend Nanda Suri in whose house he had parked the motorcycle. “Mr. Suri said he had asked Ashok Kumar to take rest for a while before leaving. But as he wanted to come home and rest before his next rehearsal, he left Mr. Suri’s house at 5.30 a.m.” a relative said.
To a query on different theories being put out on whether barricades had been placed near the accident site before the incident or after the incident, Abhishek said: “I used to go with my father around the same area many times. Even when we had passed by that open pit last week, I had not seen the barricades. Locals, who witnessed the accident, said there was no barricade while the civic authorities are claiming that barricades had been placed. We don’t know what to believe. There is no CCTV camera also anywhere near these roads, so we have no clue what happened.”
Meanwhile, the Basavanagudi traffic police said they were awaiting the post-mortem report from the hospital.
They claimed that barricades had been kept around the open pit in Hanumanthanagar before the accident took place on Sunday.
