Celebrations turn sour: IT executive injured in Hyderabad mishap remains critical

The condition of the president of a multinational software company, who was injured in an accident at the Ramoji Film City here remained critical, as probe was underway to ascertain the negligence in the tragedy, police said on Saturday.

The founder-CEO of Vistex, Sanjay Shah (56) succumbed to injuries while undergoing treatment at a hospital following the mishap during the firm's silver jubilee celebrations on January 18.

Meanwhile, the condition of the company's president, Vishwanath Raju (52) is said to be serious, they said.

A probe is underway to ascertain facts about the negligence that led to the accident.

According to the complaint, as soon as the event began on Thursday evening, Sanjay Shah and Vishwanath Raju entered into an iron cage, which was to be lowered from a height of 20 feet. While the cage was being brought down, the iron chain supporting it broke on one side, and both of them fell on the concrete dais below.

As a result, both sustained critical injuries following which they were taken to the hospital.

It took close to 15-20 minutes for the event organisers to arrange an ambulance to transport the injured to the hospital, the complaint alleged.

As adequate ambulance facility was not provided by the organizers, Raju Datla was taken to the hospital in a car, it said.

The incident occurred due to sheer negligence of the event management team and lack of any safety precautions defined or taken by Ramoji Film City Management, stated Janakiram Raju Kalidindi, Executive Director of the company, in the complaint.

The entire event was recorded and the video footage was shared with the police.

According to police, 680 employees of the company were present when the accident occurred at about 7.40 PM on Thursday.

The company had planned to organise the silver jubilee celebrations on January 18 and 19 at the Film City.

Vistex, a multinational software company, has 20 offices across the globe and 2000 plus employees, according to its website.

A case was registered against the concerned event management officials and Ramoji Film City Management (Usha Kiran Events), according to the FIR.

The case was registered under Section 336 (Act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 287 (negligent conduct with respect to machinery), r/w 34 IPC, the FIR said.

Ramoji Film City is situated on the outskirts of Hyderabad. It is a tourist attraction and used for film shootings.