Berhampur: A former sarpanch of Narayanpur panchayat in Ganjam district was killed after a heavy stone struck his vehicle near Bumzoo shrine on KP Road in Mattan area of Anantnag district in Jammu & Kashmir on Wednesday.The deceased, identified as R Himansu Prasad Rao, a resident of Tata Colony near here, and five others of Berhampur and Chhatrapur went to Jammu & Kashmir on Aug 28 on tour to Jammu & Kashmir and were scheduled to return on Sept 10.While they were travelling in an SUV to Pahalgam, a heavy boulder came crashing down from a hillside and struck their vehicle near Bumzoo Mattan in south Kashmir around 10… He was immediately rushed to Govt Medical College (GMC) Anantnag for treatment. “He succumbed to his injuries during treatment,” said Sunil, one of his relatives.Other occupants in the vehicle, however, escaped unhurt. He was sitting beside the driver, and the rolling stone suddenly hit the vehicle and his head, causing heavy bleeding,” said A Dillip Reddy, who was accompanying him.They were scheduled to return to the village on Aug 10 after visiting different places in Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan and New Delhi, he said.A pall of gloom descended on the Tata Colony area after one of them intimated his family about the incident on the phone.Expressing deep grief over the incident, MP (Berhampur) Pradeep Kumar Panigrahy wrote to chief secretaries of Jammu & Kashmir and Odisha to facilitate bringing his body to the native place for last rites. He has also appealed for other Odia tourists who accompanied the deceased to be brought safely to his area. He also wrote to Ganjam collector Keerthi Vasan V about the incident and appealed for arrangements to be made to bring his body to the village.Rao was the sarpanch of Narayanpur from 2017-22 with two sons.
