Police Scotland appeals as crash kills Indian students

Police Scotland are appealing for information after a fatal road accident resulted in the death of three Indians, while a fourth Indian national remains in hospital in critical condition.

Pavan Bashetty from Hyderabad and Girish Subramanyam from Bengaluru, both 23, and their friend, 30-year-old Sudhakar Modepalli from Andhra Pradesh, were killed in the crash involving their car and a black heavy goods vehicle (HGV) on August 19 near Castle Stalker in Scotland. Sai Varma, 24, from Hyderabad was air-lifted to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow with “serious injuries”. All of those involved in the crash are associated with courses at the University of Leicester and were visiting Scotland on holiday.

Sergeant Kevin Craig of Police Scotland said: “At this time, our thoughts are with the families and friends of the deceased men.

“We are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding this crash and would ask anyone with information, or who witnessed anything, to contact officers via 101 quoting incident 1976 of Friday, 19 August, 2022."

A 47-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a road traffic offence and released pending further enquiries.

The Indian community in Scotland and the Indian National Students' Association (INSA) UK have rallied around to assist the men’s families back in India.

“It is very tragic. We have been liaising with the family members,” said Rajashekhar Jala, of the Edinburgh Hindu Mandir Committee.