Seer killed in car-train collision

The head pontiff of the revered Valmiki Gurupeetha Punyanandapuri Swamiji and two others were killed when the car in which they were travelling collided with a speeding train at Karur village on the outskirts of Davangere in Karnataka.

Punyanandapuri Swamiji, 36, who is the seer of the Valmiki community, was returning to his Ashram in Harihar after participating in a religious function at Karur village on Tuesday when the mishap took place.

The Hubli-Bangalore Fast Passenger Express train ran through the ill-fated car when it was crossing the unmanned level crossing at Karur village. The Seer, a 13-year-old follower Basavaraj and driver Nagaraj, 44, were killed on the spot.

Soon after learning about the accident, hundreds of devotees from the Ashram rushed to the spot and joined the locals in staging demonstration on the railway track to protest the failure of the Railway officials to man the level crossing. The locals and the devotees piled up boulders on the railway track and disrupted train traffic on the route for more than three hours.

The agitation was withdrawn after the local railway authorities assured to install a manned gate at the accident spot within the next two months.

Meanwhile, the last rites of the Seer were held at the Valmiki Gurupeetha at Rajanahalli in Harihar yesterday. Thousands of devotees attended the funeral.