Kalaburagi: Youth drowns in pond, friend records incident

KALABURAGI: Unbridled craze for filming ‘real’ incidents on cell phone cameras was in full flow even as a youth met a watery grave, here on Saturday. The youth drowned in a pond near Rukmoddin Darga on the outskirts of the city, even as his friends were watching the incident, with one of them recording the same.

The blatant and inhumane act came to be known only after the video clip of the incident went viral. Strangely, there was another youth in the group who allegedly did not bother to save his friend, while a group of women who were washing clothes in the water, watched the whole incident as mute spectators.
According to police sources, the deceased is identified as Jaffer Ayub (19) resident of Mijguri locality of Kalaburagi. He along with his two friends had gone to the pond on Friday evening.

While one among them went to swim in the water and returned in a jiffy, Jaffer who did not know swimming, decided to give it a try. However, unaware of the fate to befall on him, he started to drown soon after venturing into water. Another friend of his, who was filming his friends in the water, extended his hand to pull him out to safety, but withdrew it, according to the video clip.

Ayub was the sole breadwinner of the family, as his father is an alcoholic.When the police went to the house of two other youths, their parents restrained men in khaki from collecting their statements. They claimed that their sons were in a state of stock especially after the incident.A case of unnatural death has been registered at rural police station.