Victims of fatal Johson County crash related to state politician in India, official says

The six people who were killed in the head-on collision in Johnson County on Tuesday night were family members visiting Texas.

P Nageshwara Rao, 64, and his wife Seetha Mahalakshmi, 60, of India, were visiting their daughter Naveena, 36, grandson Krithik, 10, and granddaughter Nishita, 9, in Georgia, according to Ashok Kolla, a spokesperson for the Telugu Association of North America. The group helps support Telugu speaking people in North America. Telegu is one of the languages spoken in India.

They were on the way back from visiting relatives in Texas when the accident occurred. A Chevrolet Silverado traveling south on U.S. 67 entered the northbound lane in a no passing zone and hit the family’s Honda Odyssey head on, the Texas Department of Public Safety said Wednesday morning in a press release. The crash happened around 4 p.m.

The minivan’s driver, Rushil Barri of Irving, also died in the crash and was a distant relative of the family, Kolla said.

Naveena’s husband, 26-year-old Lokesh Potabathula of Alpharetta, Georgia, was a passenger in the minivan and the only survivor, officials said.

Ponnada Venkata Satish Kumar, a politician in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, is a nephew of Rao and Mahalakshmi, Kolla said.

The Telugu Association of North America is working with authorities to send all the bodies to India. Kolla said they are just waiting on authorities to formally identify and release the bodies.

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office has not identified the victims.