One killed, two singers hurt in Maharashtra accident

AURANGABAD - One person was killed and two popular singers, Rahul Saxena and Apoorva Gajjala, were injured in a road accident on the Jalna-Aurangabad highway in Maharashtra just before midnight, police said here Friday.

The victims were returning to Aurangabad from Jalna after a musical programme Thursday night when their car rammed into a truck, said Rohidas Jadhav, an official at the Jalna sub-district police station.

A sound recordist, Uday Dantale, was killed immediately in the accident.

While Rahul, who had participated in popular singing relatity show “Indian Idol” a few years ago, sustained minor injuries and is being treated in a Jalna hospital, his colleague Apoorva was seriously injured and is in coma at the S.N. Dhoot Hospital in adjacent Aurangabad district.

The driver Deepak Ghorpade was also hurt and is being treated in Aurangabad, Jadhav said.

While Rahul was among the top 10 in “Indian Idol” in 2006, Apoorva was among the front-runners in the “Sa Re Ga Ma Pa” music competition a few years ago.