A 33-year-old software engineer, Gogineni Nagarjuna from Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh drowned at a waterfall near Charlotte city, North Carolina state of US on Sunday evening.
The victim was a resident of Gottumukkala village, Kanchikacherla mandal. The victim’s family received information about Nagarjuna’s death, the following day.
Nagarjuna had completed his graduation in Vijayawada and moved to the US for further studies in 2008 and later settled there after getting a job at an MNC.
He was the third son of former TDP leader Gogineni Venkata Rao. Venkata Rao had passed away seven years ago.
Addressing the media, the family members said that the incident took place on Saturday (US time) when Nagarjuna and his friends went to Winston waterfalls.
New Indian Express quoted Pujitha, sister of Nagarjuna as saying, “When he did not come out of the water, his friends informed the police. The police fished out his body from the water and informed my mother about his death around 6 am on Monday.”
In a bid to help the ailing family, the Telugu community in the US and Nagarjuna’s friends have started raising funds of $12,000 on Gofundme.
Telugu Association of North America (TANA) also promoted the fund campaign through their Facebook page.
TANA said efforts were being made to hand over Nagarjuna’s body to his family members as soon as possible.
Satish M, a campaign organiser wrote, “Nagarjuna went out with friends for a drive and visited the waterfalls two hours from Charlotte where he drowned accidentally. He was and would always be greatly loved. His family is in India and we are working with Indian associations especially TANA for final rites or options to send the body to India (sic).”
After learning about the demise of Nagarjuna, Nandigama MLA T Soumya visited the family and consoled them. She promised that the government will help in bringing back the body.