Mother-son duo’s suicide: Man had HIV, claims wife’s family

HASSAN: Two days after a mother-son duo ended their lives by jumping into a lake, it has now been revealed that the son was suffering from HIV and was apprehensive about his condition becoming known to others. Earlier, it was believed that the man’s mother and his wife could not get along well, leading to the suicide.

The lake in the village where the mother-son duo ended their lives.

Jayanthi (60) and Bharat (32) ended their lives by jumping into a lake at Kabballi village in Channarayapatna taluk on Monday. Bharat had got married to Geetha of Baguranahalli in Arasikere taluk just eight months ago and he was given Rs 4 lakh as dowry along with 100 gm of gold ornaments. According to Geetha’s family, she and Bharat lived as a couple for only about 15 days and he had distanced himself from her.

After Geetha returned to her parental home, Bharat started accusing her that she was into drugs and would consume alcohol. The two families intervened and Geetha was sent back to Bharat’s house. But later on, Bharat sent Geetha to a relative’s house after which the families intervened again, they said.

Bharat would always carry a small box of medicines around his neck and Geetha grew suspicious about it. Once, when he was bathing, she took photographs of the tablets and the prescription and sent them to her sister. When the photos were shown to a nurse known to the sister, it was revealed that the drugs were prescribed for HIV treatment, the family claimed.

On Monday, the families were to meet and discuss the issue again and Bharat was told to bring his Aadhaar card and both asked to undergo medical tests. But on March 9, Bharat and his mother went on a motorcycle from Bengaluru to Didiga where they met a relative in Kabballi.

From there, they went to meet his grandmother at Neralekere where they handed over 100 gm of gold, a 30 gm gold chain, took her blessings and returned home. In the wee hours of Monday, the mother-son duo prayed to the village deity and ended their lives, Geetha’s family said.

They said Bharat had not disclosed about his condition at the time of marriage and added that he had been availing treatment for the last three years. Geetha has undergone test for HIV, which returned negative. However, with an eye on the 2-acre land, a house and 150 coconut tree belonging Bharat’s family, his relatives were making baseless allegations against him, they said. They also sought justice for Geetha.