THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A youth who tried to kill himself and his wife by driving his car into a pond at Mannanthala here on Sunday midnight lost his life, while his wife escaped.
Rajesh, 38, alias Kannan, was the one who was killed in the Vayambachira pond. Police said that Rajesh, following a rift with his wife Painkili, went out of their house at Barton Hill along with her and drove straight at the pond. When the car got stuck on the steps of the pond, Painkili, smelling danger, jumped out. Though Rajesh tried to dive into the pond holding her hand, she ran away.
She went to a nearby church and informed the residents there of the incident. But when Painkili, along with persons from the church, reached the spot, Rajesh had jumped into the pond. The police recovered his body by 2 am.
Mannanthala police said that Rajesh, a native of Kattappana, had got married to Painkili six years ago and they have two children. Painkili hails from Kunnukuzhi here and they were living in her house at Barton Hill. There were differences of opinion between the two over the past few days and Rajesh, who reached home on Sunday night, suggested to Painkili that they go for a drive to settle the issues between them.
Rajesh, a taxi driver, is also survived by children Kanmani and Lekshmi.