BENGALURU: The drowning of 54-year-old Rathnamma appears to be a case of failure of all departments involved. Neither the police nor the BBMP — even its Mayor — was aware of the incident, even a few hours after it had occurred on Thursday night. When her son Jagadish Kumar, a driver, came to see her on Friday morning, he learnt that she had drowned. “I failed to alert the police as I was not aware that the incident had to be informed to police,” said Jagadish who is not well-educated.
Jagadish told The New Indian Express, “On Friday morning, I came to know that my mother had drowned in the water flowing from the rajakaluve. She had slept before the water-logging happened, but was unable to come out since she was suffering from diabetes. It is not the first time that flooding has happened. It had repeatedly occurred during rainy seasons last year. She was staying at my sister’s house in Marathahalli during the rains. Local corporator and his team had come to the house to record the incident but they too did not inform police.”
Rathnamma’s neighbour Manjunath said that at around
9.15 pm, he called the fire and emergency services, personnel of which rushed to the spot. But they were helpless as they did not have the equipment to drain out the water. Moreover, everyone believed that she had been washed away without realising that she had drowned while asleep. Her body was under water in her own house. Neighbours discovered the body only in the morning after which it was taken to a nearby hospital.
S S Manju, inspector from KP Agrahara police station, said, “No one has approached the police station to inform about the incident so far. Thus, no complaint has been filed. It is not our job to go and see who has fallen where or who has drowned and then take up a suo motu case.”BBMP Mayor R Sampath Raj said, “I have asked my staff to check about the tragedy as I was not aware of it. I will comment further once I come to know about the incident.”