Chicago: Praneetha Devi Kasani, 21, an MS student, died and five of her student friends, among whom one was a girl, were seriously injured when the car in which they were traveling met with an accident on I-64 Highway in Beckley city in West Virginia State in the early hours of May 6.
Giving this information over phone from Dallas, TX, Prasad Thotakura, executive vice president of TANA, said that all the students – two girls and four boys – were from Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh, and studying in two different universities in the US.
Praneetha Devi, an MS Electrical Engineering student at Wright State Ohio University, OH, went to West Virginia along with her friends and met with the accident at 6.45 a.m., while they were returning. They all left Virginia around 2:00 a.m. to go to Ohio.
While Praneetha Devi died instantly, the other five sustained injuries. Praneetha Devi, Sashi Venkata Kondury, 22, Harika Vangeti, 22, and Pavan Kumar Ragavjhala, 23, were from Wright State Ohio University and uneeth Reddy Amarella, 22, and Santosh Maddali, 22, were from University of Northern Virginia.
Prasad said that he was in touch with the father of Praneetha, Rama Rao Kasani, who works as a circle inspector of police in Hyderabad. Prasad said that he was also in touch with the parents of other students.
Quoting the preliminary reports, Prasad said that Puneeth Reddy, who was driving the car lost control, and collided with another car in the left lane. Praneetha, who was ejected from the car, died instantly. Though all others
were injured badly and admitted to Beckley Regional Hospital, they were all out of danger and would be released soon.
Parents and relatives of Praneetha were in great shock. Rama Rao Kasani requested TANA to help in sending the body to Hyderabad as soon as possible, Prasad added. “We are in the process of contacting the Indian Consulate officials and the funeral home, to obtain the needed certificates
to send the body of Praneetha to Hyderabad the earliest possible time. We hope to complete all formalities and send the body to Hyderabad by May 11,” Prasad said.
He said that he along with Mohan Nannapaneni, TANA secretary; Naren Kodali, TANA trustee; Subba Rao Kolla, TANA regional director; and several TANA Team Square volunteers, including Dr. Rajendra Prasad Valiveti of West Virginia were working on the case. Wright State Ohio
University Indian Students Association president Raghu Bhagavatula, and other students like Rajesh Yarlagadda, and Leela Krishna are helping in the situation.
Jayaram Komati, TANA president, and all other governing board members of TANA offered their deepest condolences to the Kasani family. Prasad said TANA would be taking care of all the expenses to send the body of Praneetha to India. He said that there was no need for any donations for this purpose, but if any one wished to donate they might do so to TANA Team Square for its continued similar efforts. They may donate generously by visiting Web site: https://www.tana.org/donate/
