Death cut short youth’s biz dreams

Anand Sampangiramaiah, 25, was over the moon as he sat pillion on his friend Sumanth Reddy’s bike. The duo, coming from Chikkaballapur, was headed towards Majestic.
Sumanth stopped the bike at the Esteem Mall junction as the signal turned red. “We were in the final stages of setting up a watch showroom in Chikkaballapur. We had an appointment with a senior watch company official at 2pm.Anand was so happy to help me,” recalled Sumanth.
But Anand’s dreams were nipped in the bud. Even as he and Sumanth were waiting for the signal to turn green, a speeding oil tanker rear-ended their bike, killing Anand on the spot.
Family members of Sumanth and two other injured, students Kusmuashree J and Akshatha R, were in shock at Columbia Asia Hospital, Hebbal, where they were admitted. The injured were in ICU and OTs, while their relatives waited in the lounge where TV screens repeatedly screened the blood-curdling accident images. Sumanth’s relatives and friends are yet to get over the shock of Anand’s death. Family friend Praveen Kumar said: “They were going towards the city. Sumanth told me he had stopped the bike when the signal turned red, and within no time, he was thrown off the two-wheeler. Anand wasn’t so lucky.”