Krishnagiri Collector Pooja Kulkarni’s duffadar G. Muniraj (55) died while the Collector and two others suffered injuries in a road accident here on Saturday.
The Collector suffered a fracture on the nose. Her Personal Clerk G. Jaishankar (36) and driver C. Sivanandam (46) are the other injured persons, the police said.
M. Ashok Kumar, Superintendent of Police, told The Hindu that the accident took place near the Anjaneyar Temple on the Bangalore-Chennai National Highway.
He said the driver of the Collector’s official vehicle swerved to the left and rammed a stationary bus while trying to avoid colliding with a car that took a U-turn and came in the opposite direction.
Sources in the district administration said that the Collector was heading for Morur, the native village of the District Revenue Officer C. Prakasam, whose father died on Saturday morning.
Doctors at the Government Headquarters Hospital here said that in addition to the treatment for the fracture in the nose, Ms. Kulkarni underwent a computed tomography (CT) scan, which did not reveal any serious head injury. She was, however, referred to a hospital specialising in neurology in Bangalore for a detailed evaluation.
Minister for Municipal Administration and Rural Development K.P. Munusamy also rushed to the Krishnagiri hospital and made arrangements for shifting the Collector to the Bangalore hospital.
Driver C. Sivanandam was treated for cut injuries on the cheek. Both of them were said to be out of danger.
The body of the dufedar was handed over to his family members after post-mortem at the Krishnagiri GH.
Chief Minister announces relief
Expressing shock over the incident, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa announced in a press release that Rs. 1 lakh would be provided as relief to the accident victim’s family.
