Bantwal: Ex-serviceman's wife, daughter jump into well, die

Pics: Mounesh Vishwakarma
Daijiworld Media Network – Bantwal (NM)

Bantwal, Jul 11: An ex-serviceman's wife and 6-year-old daughter allegedly committed suicide by jumping into well at Melkar here on Thursday July 11.

The deceased have been identified as Prathima (33), a nurse at AJ Hospital, Mangalore and her daughter Dia (6). They resided near R R Mill, Melkar.

The reason behind taking the extreme step is not yet known.

Speaking to daijiworld, a police source said, "We will talk to the parents of Prathima. Her husband Naveen Kumar, a former military man currently employed as a safety officer in Mangalore, told police that he had questioned Prathima when she was busy messaging on her mobile phone late night and asked her not to continue. Naveen feels that it must have led her to take such a step."

On July 10 night, Prathima and her daughter had slept in one room, while her husband slept in another room. The in-laws too had their own room. During the night, Prathima took her child who was in deep sleep and jumped into their well which is located close to their house, the police added.

The family members came to know only in the morning and immediately called up the police. Fire brigade personnel helped to get the bodies out of the well.

Dia was a student of an English medium school at Panemangalore.  It is learnt that Prathima, who attended to her duties at A J Hospital on Wednesday, was cheerful as usual. Therefore, it appears that Prathima took a decision about committing suicide after reaching home in the evening.

Post mortem of the bodies was conducted at the government hospital here. As the news of this tragedy spread, hundreds of people gathered in front of the mortuary of the government hospital today morning.

A case has been registered in Bantwal police station.