Daijiworld Media Network - Bantwal (SP)
Bantwal, Sep 30: It has transpired that a woman and her two children along with their pet dog jumped down the Panemangalore Bridge into River Netravati on Saturday September 28 night as the family members were clueless about their future and devastated by the sudden demise of the family head. The body of the daughter of the deceased lady has since been found, while that of the son has not been recovered.
Those who took a plunge after parking their car near the said bridge were Kavita Mandanna (55), her son, Kaushik Mandanna (30), and daughter, Kalpita Mandanna (20). Their native place was Kadangala Ballachanda in Virajpet taluk, Kodagu and were residing at P S Nagar, Mysuru within the limits of Saraswatipuram police station.
As soon as the trio and the pet dog jumped into the river, the locals had jumped into the river and tried to rescue them. Kavita and the dog were found immediately. Kavita had died before she could be admitted into hospital.
Immediately after the three persons who arrived in a Maruti EECO car parked their vehicle near the bridge and jumped into the river, an auto rickshaw driver saw them and informed the Bantwal town police and divers from Goodinabali. The divers succeeded in bringing out Kavita and the dog but the bodies of other two victims remained untraced even though efforts were made to trace them till 2.30 am on Sunday.
The search was continued on Sunday. The mortal remains of Kalpita were found near Innoli Koria within Konaje station limits. The remains were shifted to Deralakatte hospital for post-mortem. Bantwal police circle inspector, T D Nagaraj, town station sub-inspector, Chandrashekhar and fire brigade personnel along with local boats and two national disaster response force boats were involved with search operation since Sunday morning. Tahsildar, Rashmi S R and other officials were also at the spot. The officials said that the search for the other body would be undertaken on Monday.
The police said that the relatives of the deceased arrived on Sunday morning. Saraswatipuram police have informed Bantwal town station that the trio had left behind a letter before leaving their home but its contents are not yet known. The family members, for some unknown reasons, jumped into the river even before the funeral of the family head was performed.
Even after lot of discussions and debates were held about the need to install CCTV cameras and net to the Netravati Bridge at Ullal after the death of Cafe Coffee Day founder, Siddhartha Hegde, no CCTV cameras are in place on the bridge even though a few lives have been lost after the said incident both in Ullal and Panemangalore.