Rajat Kumar, a 25-year-old man who saved Indian cricketer Rishabh Pant's life following his car accident in 2022, attempted suicide along with his girlfriend by consuming poison.
The incident was reported in Buchha Basti, a village in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district on February 9.
Rajat Kumar and Nishu Kumar had saved Rishabh Pant when the cricketer met with an accident on a December night in 2022. Rajat and Nishu found a mangled Mercedes, upside down and smouldering, near Roorkee on Delhi-Dehradun highway. They pulled out Rishabh Pant from the wreckage, half-conscious and profusely bleeding and informed the police.
They stayed with the cricketer, though initially they didn't know it was Rishabh Pant, till help arrived. Pant, according to the Times of India, later said that the two were "heroes who helped me...I'll be forever grateful and indebted."
As a token of gratitude, Pant gifted a scooter to Rajat Kumar.
Meanwhile, a NDTV report said that Kumar and his 21-year-old girlfriend, Manu Kashyap allegedly consumed poison on Sunday evening after their families opposed their relationship since they belonged to different castes.
While Kashyap died during treatment, Kumar remains in critical condition, battling for his life in a hospital in Jhabreda, Uttarakhand.
"Now, the village that once took pride in Rajat's bravery is obsessed about a scandal. In a place where "family honour" is currency, a young man and woman trying to defy caste and family expectations is not just a personal crisis --it is a communal one, TOI report said.
(If you are having suicidal thoughts, or are worried about a friend or need emotional support, someone is always there to listen. Call Sneha Foundation - 04424640050, Tele Manas - 14416 (available 24x7) or iCall, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences' helpline - 02225521111, which is available Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 10 pm.)