Four persons, including IAS officer T Dharma Rao, were killed and three others, including another IAS officer and an IPS officer, were injured in a road accident in ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday. All the officials were of the Madhya Pradesh cadre.
Official sources said that Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Dharma Rao, who was posted as Commissioner in Industries department, his wife Vidya Rao, their companion Kumar Singh and driver Karma Dorji died on the spot when their vehicle fell into a deep gorge at Khardungla on the leh-Nubra road.
The accident occurred after the driver lost control over the vehicle. The injured, which included Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Ashok Avasthi, Inspector General of Police (IG) in lokayukta, his wife Manjuri and Shailendra Kumar, CEO of Ujjain Development Authority (UDA), were taken to leh hospital for treatment.
Sources further said that the officers from Madhya Pradesh were on holiday in ladakh. Khardungla Pass is situated at 18,380 feet above the sea level. Rao was an IAS officer of the 1989 batch, while Ashok Avasthi is an IPS officer of the 1989 batch. Rao had held the position of Collector in Shahdol, Satna and Gwalior. He was posted as the Industries Commissioner in May 2012.