Indian sprinter Dondapati Mrutyum Jayaram killed in Cuttack road crash

Dondapati Mrutyum Jayaram and fellow athlete Malay Barik died in a motorcycle accident near Cuttack late on the evening of Wednesday, October 21, 2026, while they were travelling to Cuttack to celebrate Dussehra.

Originally from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, Jayaram lived in Bhabanipatna in Kalahandi district, Odisha, and trained at the Odisha Reliance Foundation Athletics High Performance Centre in Bhubaneswar under coaches Rohit Mane and Martin Owens. He competed primarily in the 100-metre and 200-metre sprints and the 4×100-metre relay for Odisha’s junior and senior teams as well as India’s Under-20 men’s squad.

The two athletes reportedly lost control of their motorcycle and crashed into a road median; doctors at SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack declared both of them brought dead. The incident occurred late on Wednesday evening, according to the report.

Jayaram won one silver and one bronze medal in the 4×100m relay and the 100m sprint, respectively, at the 4th South Asian Junior Athletics Championship held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai from September 11–13, 2024. Those podium finishes were recorded while he was competing at junior level for India.

He was also part of the Indian men’s 4×100m relay squad that took bronze with a national record time of 40.01 seconds at the 21st Asian Junior (U-20) Athletics Championships at the Dubai Police Stadium in Dubai on April 27, 2024. That performance is listed among his international achievements.

Most recently, Jayaram won one silver and one bronze medal in the men’s 200m and 100m, respectively, at the 6th Indian Open U-23 athletics competition held at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur, from October 16–18, 2026. Those results were the latest national-level medals recorded for him.

Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi condoled death athletes saying their untimely passing was a profound loss to Odisha’s sporting fraternity.