Mysuru: Unable to bear the death of her husband, a woman from city along with her two children jumped into the Nethravathi River in Mangaluru. Though the woman was rescued by local fishermen, she breathed her last in a hospital. Search is on for the two children.

The woman has been identified as 57-year-old Kavitha Mandanna (Puchimada) and her children are 29-year-old Kaushik and 27-year-old Kalpitha. They are the residents of Vijayanagar Fourth Stage in city. The woman’s husband 65-year-old Kishan Mandanna (Kalmadanda) had died of a heart attack on Sept.27 and the family was unable to bear the shock. 

According to the Police, Kavitha, Kaushik and Kalpitha left Kishan’s body in their house with a note saying that they are unable to lead their life without Kishan. Later, the trio left the house keys outside the house. The family hailed from Virajpet and was settled in Mysuru.

They left their home along with their pet dogs in their car and headed towards Mangaluru. According to Bantwal Police and local residents, the car reached Panemangaluru Bridge on Nethravathi River in Bantwal Taluk last night and after ensuring that there is no traffic on the stretch, all the three jumped into the river along with their pet dogs at 10.30 pm.  

However, this was spotted by a few residents and an auto driver, who alerted the local fishermen. The fishermen swung into action and managed to rescue Kavitha at Goodinali near the old bridge and shifted her to a hospital. Kavitha, however, breathed her last in the hospital, Police said. The fishermen also rescued one of the dogs and alerted the Bantwal Police. The other dog swam into safety.

The Police, who traced the vehicle, found that the family belonged to Mysuru and alerted the City Police Control Room staff who in turn alerted the Vijayanagar Police. The Police later discovered that before jumping into the river, the family had called some of their relatives and informed that they would be ending their lives in Mangaluru and told them that Kishan’s body was inside their Vijayanagar house. They later switched off their mobiles.

Meanwhile, the relatives rushed to the house and found the keys outside. They opened the doors along with Vijayanagar Police Inspector Suresh Kumar and also found Kishan’s body and shifted it to JSS Hospital. All things at home had been bundled packed and named. Messages were passed across the State to trace the family members. When the Police scanned mobile networks, the family location was traced to Bantwal.

The operation to trace Kaushik and Kalpitha resumed this morning and Bantwal Fire Service Personnel, expert divers and fishermen are jointly involved in the task.

Bantwal Circle Inspector T.D. Nagaraj and Sub-Inspector Chandrashekar are supervising the search operation.