Celebrity kids turning speed demons

Minutes after consoling the Nishith’s family members in a hospital where his body was laid, TDP MP JC Diwakar Reddy spoke of increasing pub and club culture in Hyderabad, putting the lives of VVIP children at risk. When the posts in social media suggesting that Nishit was drunk while on drive went viral, Reddy’s observations set the cat among the pigeons

Nishith Narayana, 23, Director of Narayana group of colleges and son of AP Municipal Administration Minister P Narayana, was crushed to death when his high-end Mercedes Benz SUV vehicle hit a metro pillar in Hyderabad on May 10. His vehicle cost Rs 2.5 crore and the speed it recorded at the time of the accident was 205km per hour.

His untimely death sparked a debate over the proclivities of children of VIPs and celebrities to display their status associated with wealth on roads, issues relating to parenting and easy money that snuffed out their lives abruptly.Nishith was not the first one to end his precious life on the roads as a VIP son. Mohammad Ayazuddin, the 19-year-old budding cricketer and son of India’s former cricket skipper Azharuddin, died when his 1000cc Suzki bike hit a divider when negotiating a curve in September 2011. The cost of the bike ranges between Rs 18-21 lakh.

Kota Prasad (39), son of Tollywood actor and former BJP MLA Kota Srinivasa Rao, and Pawan Kumar, the son of another comedian Babu Mohan, too lost their lives in a similar fashion while riding an SUV and sports bike. Prateek Reddy, son of former Congress minister Komatireddy Venkata Reddy, was killed along with two of his friends while returning from college in a swanky Skoda car at Kolluru in Medak district around the same time.

Minutes after consoling the Nishith’s family members in a hospital where his body was laid, TDP MP JC Diwakar Reddy spoke of increasing pub and club culture in Hyderabad, putting the lives of VVIP children at risk. When the posts in social media suggesting that Nishit was drunk while on drive went viral, Reddy’s observations set the cat among the pigeons. Close on the heels, forensic reports were out putting the debate on the victim’s condition to rest.

The fatal accident involving Nishith’s death inadvertently brings to the fore a spate of suicides reported in corporate colleges with the involvement of students, apart from the road safety. Although the two issues are no way connected to each other, Nishith’s position in the Narayana group has fuelled the debate over the campus deaths. Facebook and Whatsapp became fora for discussions on the campus suicides. According to estimates, over 16 students ended their lives in different corporate colleges in 2016-17 with the Narayana group alone accounting for a lion’s share of 11.

And, the tragic deaths of students failed to catch the attention of the government and reasons behind them go unnoticed. Citing a battery of the who’s who of the AP and Telangana governments lining up to condole the wailing minister Narayana, J Viswanadh, general secretary of the AP branch of the All India Student Federation (AISF), wondered why they failed to display a similar concern for students ending their lives in corporate colleges.

Counselors have been appointed in the corporate colleges to wean away the vulnerable from suicidal tendencies. But they are being deployed to handle the assignments other than the counseling, a social media post alleged.Indla Rama Subba Reddy, a leading psychiatrist from Vijayawada, said the streak of fatal accidents involving the children from the celebrities and VIPs’ families are revealing their behavioral disorders such as attention-seeking, demonstration of wealth by doing so and wrong parenting and mentoring.

“Parents with the VIP and the celebrity tag are busy in their own worlds with no time to keep track of their children, resulting in their tragic end,” he observed. The disorder manifests in the form of recklessness when they are behind the wheel, he added. Giving credence to this view, Nishith was fined thrice for rash driving, it is said.

SAV Prasada Rao, Joint Commissioner of the AP Transport department, cites certain provisions of the AP Motor Vehicle Act that restrict the speed of non-goods transport vehicles like cars of all brands below 100kmph. The Act is thrown to the winds especially when the members of the VIP families are driving the vehicles. Rao proposed installation of either static or mobile cameras to monitor the speed of the vehicles plying on the roads.