JAISALMER/BENGALURU: King Richard Srinivasan, a celebrated cross-country biker from Bengaluru, was killed when his motorcycle crashed into a camel in Jaisalmer district, on Wednesday night.
Richard had travelled to 37 countries in five continents and covered 65,000 km on his bike. He was in Jaisalmer as part of an 8,000-km ride from Bengaluru. Police handed over the body on Thursday to his family members after a post-mortem examination. Zonal police officer Karan Singh Charan said Richard and his three friends were on their way to Jaisalmer, and he was riding a BMW GS when a camel suddenly came before his motorcycle in the Fatehgarh sub-division headquarters area on Wednesday night. Richard lost control of the bike and fell, dying of suspected head injuries instantly.
Richard was accompanied by Narayan from Bengaluru, and Dr Vijay and Venugopal from Chennai, on the ride. Their tour was to end in Bengaluru on January 23. The 45-year-old is survived by his parents, wife, a son and a daughter.
In 2018, Richard travelled to London from Bengaluru on his motorcycle. In 2019, he covered South America and North America. βI want to visit all the countries of the world,β Richard had told TOI in 2018 after his London trip.
Manjunath Chikkaiah, who rode with King Richard to the UK, covering 23,500 km in 76 days, said the biker was a responsible rider. βHe had left Bengaluru on January 7 and wanted to go to Kashmir, besides other parts of the country. We lost one of the greatest cross-country riders,β he said.
According to his friends, Richard, who ran an aluminium furnace factory in Bengaluru, recently replaced his Triumph Tiger 800 bike with a BMW as he had plans to travel to Africa before next year. He had done multiple expeditions from Bengaluru and had covered Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Australia on the Tiger 800.