Orphaned by Wayanad landslides, Shruthi loses fiance in road accident

The couple to-be was involved in a grievous road accident at Vellaramkunnu near Kalpetta in Wayanad on Tuesday evening.
Jenson & Shruthi
Jenson & Shruthi
Updated on
2 min read

KALPETTA: Life has not been fair to Shruthi S.

The resident of Chooralmala had barely got over the pain of losing nine members of her family, including her parents and younger sister, to the devastating July 30 Wayanad landslides that she was dealt another blow.

On Wednesday, the 24-year-old lost Jenson, her fiance, her pillar of strength, and the man who had held her hand as she mourned her family.

The couple to-be was involved in a grievous road accident at Vellaramkunnu near Kalpetta in Wayanad on Tuesday evening. On Wednesday, Jenson, 27, succumbed to head injuries at WIMS Medical College, where he had been placed on ventilator support. The doctors said he died of brain haemorrhage and multiple clots. Shruthi fractured her leg in the incident and is currently under treatment at a hospital in Kalpetta.

Shruthi and Jenson got engaged on June 2, after a decade-long relationship. The engagement had brought the duo’s families, both from different religions, together. However, her life came crashing down barely two months later, when the landslides tore through her hometown, killing nine members of her family, including her father Sivanna, mother Sabitha, and younger sister Sreya.

Shruthi, who was working as an accountant at a hospital in Kozhikode at the time, was spared from the disaster by sheer luck.

While she was grappling with the grief of losing her family, Shruthi found solace in Jenson, a childhood friend and long-time partner. He stood by her and turned into her strongest support system as they navigated through the emotional pain and trauma caused by the calamity.

The duo then started making plans for the marriage. The arrangements got under way.

However, things took a turn for the worse on Tuesday afternoon, when the van in which Shruthi, Jenson and others were heading to Kozhikode collided with a private bus at a sharp bend near Vellaramkunnu.

Nine people, including Shruthi, Jenson and her cousin Lavanya, were injured. Jenson, who was driving, suffered serious head injuries.

Duo planned to get married in court

The van was severely damaged and the passengers were rescued by emergency personnel later. Though she survived, the tragedy has scarred Shruthi emotionally. The couple was looking forward to starting a new chapter in their lives after the landslides, with a court-registered marriage. During her tough times, Jenson’s unwavering support and love had given Shruthi hope.

Jenson and Shruthi
Jenson and Shruthi

On Wednesday, she was stripped of that too.

A painful trip

For the first time after the landslides that wiped off her hometown, Shruthi and Jenson had gone to the Puthumala public crematorium in the last week of August, after the body of her mother Sabitha was identified following a DNA test. Besides Sabitha, father Shivanna, and younger sister Shreya, Shruthi also lost her maternal grandmother and her two uncles to the disaster.

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