Daijiworld Media Network - Bantwal (SP)

Bantwal, Sep 6: A woman and her son went missing from within the limits of Vittal police station on Friday September 4. Among the two, the fire brigade personnel found the body of the mother on the evening of Saturday September 5.

Sharada (32) from Kambalabettu Kambalimoole in Vitlamudnoor village, whose husband, Satish, is employed at Mumbai, had left her home with 18-month-old son, Charan, on Thursday September 3 morning. She had told the family members that she would return after depositing money belonging to the Stree Shakti self help group in a private bank at Pariyaltadka.

As the duo went missing thereafter, Pakeera Gowda filed missing complaint in Vittal station on Friday. However, before this, there were rumours on Thursday itself that the mother-son duo had jumped into the river at Uppinangady near Lord Sahasralingeshwara temple. As no complaints had been received by then at any of the police stations, the police had dismissed the rumours as false. Based on rumours, even family members of the lady had conducted search operations on the riverbank on Thursday evening.

After the missing complaint was received on Friday, a hunt for the bodies was launched in River Netravati but the effort went futile. Tahsildar Sannarangaiah, the administrative officer of Uppinangady temple, visited the temple and collected details, but could not arrive at a definite conclusion. Under the instructions of MLA Shakuntala T Shetty, assistant commissioner from the town, Basavaraju, had instructed the fire officer to search for the missing duo. However, the operation was called off after the boat of the fire brigade suffered damages due to rocky terrain in the river.

The search operation was resumed on Saturday and by late evening, Sharada's body was found on the banks of Kadeshivalaya river under Bantwal rural police limits, while the son's body is yet to be found and search is on.