Woman ends life by jumping into lake after pickup truck driven by son falls into Bhadra river

CHIKKAMAGALUR: A woman committed suicide by jumping into a lake near her house on hearing that a pickup truck driven by her son fell into the Bhadra river after crashing into an electricity pole in Kolamage village in Kalasa taluk. The deceased was identified as Ravikala (48).

Her son Shamanth (23) would drop off labourers to estates in the pickup truck and on Thursday, he had gone to Kalasa on hire. While returning, the pickup truck crashed into an electricity police and plunged into the Bhadra river. Luckily, there were no labourers in the pickup truck.

The pickup truck was pulled out of the river on Friday.

Search and rescue efforts were hampered by the continuous rain on Thursday and Ravikala ended her life even before her son’s body was found. On Friday, the pickup truck was found in the river after a 23-hour search and hauled up, but there were no signs of Shamanth in the vehicle. Search operations were continuing and a case has been registered at the Kalasa police station.

Meanwhile, Mudigere MLA Nayana Motamma criticises Udupi-Chikkamagalur MP Kota Srinivas Poojary for not visiting the family despite two deaths in a single day. “None of the elected representatives visited the spot. If it was some rich people, they would have, but since these are poor people, they don’t matter”, she remarked.