Guru Prakash and Shoba had marked ‘March 19, 2016’ on their calendar as a big day: their daughter would have officially become a doctor — the first in the family. But their dream came to an abrupt end on Friday when a picnic took a tragic turn.
Their daughter, L.P. Shruthi, was one among three medical students from Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences (MIMS) who drowned at the Visvesvaraya Canal near Keregodu in Mandya on Friday evening while attempting to take a selfie. Two others were rescued. All five were residential interns (House Surgeons) from MIMS, practising at the primary health centre (PHC) in Keregodu.
On Saturday, when Shruthi’s body was brought to Bengaluru after an autopsy was conducted, ironically at MIMS, there was a pall of gloom surrounding her home at Rajajinagar. Her parents — her father is a garment trader and her mother a homemaker — sat inside teary eyed. Shruthi was the second of their three daughters.
“She was to be the first doctor from our family,” said Hamsa Lokesh, Shruthi’s elder sister, who was the last to speak to the student on Friday afternoon. Shruthi had informed Hamsa that she would be home by night.
With the young medical student getting busy with her internship at the PHC in Keregodu, trips to her home had reduced in recent months. Hence, on her 24th birthday — on December 25 — her family members visited her to celebrate by cutting a cake.
“We were all awaiting for March 19, as it was going to be Shruthi’s college convocation and the day she would have become the only doctor from our home. It had to end this way. We are all shattered,” said Lokesh Rangaswamy, Shruthi’s brother-in-law.
Body of third house surgeon recovered
The body of Girish, another of the residential interns from MIMS who drowned, was recovered at Chamalapura on Saturday evening.
A rescue team, comprising police and fire and emergency services personnel, along with local swimmers, had to search about five kilometres of the canal before finding the partially decomposed body, which was later shifted to MIMS.
The autopsy of the two other students who drowned, Jeevan and Shruthi, was conducted at MIMS on Saturday. The bodies were later taken to their homes in Bengaluru.
Their friends, Gowtham Patel and Sindhu from Vijayanagar in Mysuru, were rescued by locals.
“The survivors are in shock. We will record their statements later,” a senior police officer said. According to residents of Keregodu, the same group had visited the canal in the recent past.
Awareness drive
The tragedy has prompted the district police to create awareness among youngsters about the danger of venturing into canals. They said the canals in Mandya are being frequented by students, including those from other districts and States. The police have put up boards at popular water bodies and picnic spots in the district warning of the danger of venturing into water bodies. Plans are afoot to put up more such boards at dangerous spots along the canals. Locals would be asked to educate visitors about these spots, a police officer said.
.
