Four Indians were burnt to death in a horrific car accident in Texas, USA on Friday. All of them were going to Arkansas by carpooling. They have been identified as Aryan Raghunath Orampati, Farooq Sheikh, Lokesh Palacharla and Dharshini Vasudevan.
A speeding truck hit their car from behind, causing it to explode and catch fire. Authorities are relying on DNA testing to confirm their identities.
Aryan Raghunath Orampati
Aryan Raghunath Orampati, a resident of Hyderabad, loved music, travel and sports and had an “inexhaustible fascination” for finance. He holds a degree in electrical, electronics and communication engineering from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Tamil Nadu, and a master’s degree in finance from the University of Texas at Dallas. His father Subhash Chandra Reddy owns a Hyderabad-based firm called Max Agri Genetics Private Limited.
Mr Orampati worked as an accounting intern at Max Agri-Genetics Pvt Ltd, then took up a full-time position with the company for over a year. He was returning from visiting his cousin in Dallas when the accident occurred.
Farooq Sheikh
Hyderabad resident Farooq Shaikh was on his way to Bentonville to meet his friend when his car met with an accident. His father said that he had gone to the US three years ago to pursue an MS degree, which he recently completed. His father Mastan Wali is a retired private employee.
Lokesh Palacharla
Lokesh Palacharla, from Andhra Pradesh, was a banker at Bank of America in Allen, Texas. He was travelling to Bentonville to meet his wife.
Mr. Palacharla holds a Master’s degree in Informatics from Northeastern University. He worked at Tech Mahindra in Hyderabad. Prior to this, he worked at Brainvita Private Limited in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh.
Dharshini Vasudevan
Dharshini Vasudevan completed her master’s degree from the University of Texas and was working in the US. She was on her way to visit her uncle in Bentonville, Arkansas, when her car was hit from behind. After she could not be contacted after the accident, her father sought help in locating her through an X-post, tagging External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
In his emotional post, he shared details about his daughter’s stay in the US, mentioning her Indian passport number, address in Frisco, Texas, and her movements on the day of the accident. He said Ms Vasudevan had taken a carpool ride with three others around 3pm and kept texting continuously until 4pm, after which she lost all contact with them.
