Pandavapura: NSS volunteer from Mysuru taluk, who was attending a camp met his tragic end, when he went for a bath in a lake. The incident took place on the outskirts of Chandre village in the taluk yesterday afternoon.

The deceased has been identified as Gajendra (17), son of Channaraya of Nagawala village, Yelwal Hobli in Mysuru taluk.

Gajendra was pursuing his second year PUC (Commerce) at Vijaya College in the town and was accommodated at the RSS Office. A NSS Camp was organised at Chandre village by the College’s NSS unit from Oct. 25 in which Gajendra was taking part.

On Saturday morning, Gajendra did Shramdan till afternoon. Gajendra, who was going towards the lake along with his friends for bath, dashed towards the lake to take a bath first and jumped into the water without knowing its depth.

As Gajendra did not surface after diving into the lake, his friends jumped into the lake in a bid to trace him. As the lake was deep, they returned  to shore, in vain. Even NSS Officer Chaluvegowda, rushed to the lake and made attempts to trace Gajendra, but  to no avail, as he had drowned by that time.

Acting on information from the villagers, the Police rushed to the lake, and summoned Fire and Emergency Services personnel, who after 30 minutes search operation, finally fished out the body of Gajendra. The body was later shifted to the General Hospital mortuary for post-mortem.

Relatives vent anger

Family members and relatives of Gajendra, who rushed to Pandavapura General Hospital, expressed anger on the College’s Administrative Board, NSS Officer and lecturers. The relatives also took the DDPI to task who arrived at the mortuary.

They alleged that even after three hours of shifting Gajendra’s body to the Hospital, none from the College’s Administrative Board, NSS Officer or lecturers came to the Hospital, thus displaying their negligent attitude. They also said that though the incident took place in the afternoon, they had not informed the parents and questioned why they shifted the body to the mortuary? They held the Administrative Board, NSS Officers and lecturers responsible for Gajendra’s death.

Demand for Rs. 25 lakh compensation

The relatives of Gajendra demanded Rs. 25 lakh compensation from the College’s Administrative Board to which College Director and farmer leader Sunitha Puttannaiah said that, the members of the Administrative Board had gone on a foreign tour and were not available to reach over the phone. She assured to discuss with them upon their arrival on providing compensation.

Demand for compensation

She assured of mobilising Rs. 1 lakh from the lecturers, Rs. 50,000 from the DDPI office and Rs. 1 lakh from the NSS Office, as ex-gratia to which the relatives of deceased Gajendra refused. They insisted on Rs. 25 lakh compensation and Rs. 5 lakh as ex-gratia and to clear the remaining compensation amount later.

However, no Police complaint had been lodged in this regard till yesterday night.