Founder of Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management (GITAM) University and veteran Telugu Desam Party leader was killed in a road accident in the USA, on Monday. He was 76.
Murthy and three others were killed in a car-truck collision on the highway near Alaska in the US, where he had gone to take part in the GITAM Alumni meet on October 6. The MLC was on his way to a wildlife sanctuary when the accident occurred on Monday afternoon (US time).
Murthy, a member of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council, had been an active leader of the TDP since 1983 and had a close association with the party’s founder-president N T Rama Rao. He served as a member of Lok Sabha from Visakhapatnam for two terms from 1991 to 1996 and 1999 to 2004. Telugu Association of North America members are coordinating with the US authorities to bring the TDP leader’s body back to the state.
He founded the Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management (GITAM) at Rushikonda near Visakhapatnam, which has now been granted a “deemed to-be university” status with campuses in Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
A doctorate in economics from Andhra University, Murthy established many colleges in his native East Godavari and other districts. Having also owned a soft drinks bottling plant in Visakhapatnam, he was popularly known as ‘Goldspot’ Murthy.
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