BHOPAL: In a double tragedy, a mother and son died in accidents barely 12 hours apart in Madhya Pradesh. The woman was killed in a bike crash in Rewa district and her son died while rushing from Indore to attend her last rites.

Rani Devi, 55, and her second son Sooraj Singh, 22, were cremated together at their native village, Jatri, in Rewa on Thursday.
Rani Devi’s husband had passed away years ago, and she brought up her three sons and three daughters. She lived with her eldest and youngest sons, Prakash and Sunny, in the village, which is close to the Uttar Pradesh border. Sooraj lived in Indore, 830km away.

On Wednesday, Rani Devi was going to her maternal place with Sunny on a two-wheeler when a motorcycle rammed into them in Dabhaura, around 12km from their village. They were taken to a local hospital, where doctors referred her to Rewa (80km away), but she died on the way, sarpanch of Jatri village, Santraa Devi, told TOI. Sunny suffered fractures.
As soon as he heard of his mother’s death, Sooraj set off from Indore for his native village. A friend, Abhishek Singh, offered his car and the duo set off for Jatri with a hired driver.
Around 100km short of the village, the car crashed at Rampur Baghelan in Satna district. “We received information around 7am. It seems a tyre burst and the car spun out of control and hit a parked truck. All three were rushed to Rewa Hospital, where Sooraj died and the other two are being treated,” Rampur Baghelan police station in charge Sandeep Chaturvedi told TOI. “The entire village is anguished. No one can bear two back-to-back tragedies. It was heart-wrenching to see the mother and son being cremated together,” sarpanch Santraa Devi said.