Police identify body found in Uttaradi Math well

Bengaluru: Police investigating the death of 45-year-old woman, whose body was found on Monday evening in a well situated in Uttaradi Math in South Bengaluru, have established the identity of the deceased based on CCTV footage.

 

According to the police she is Seethalakshmi and hails from Mandya. She was abandoned by her husband few years after the marriage as she could not bear a child. Seethalakshmi, who was staying with her brother in Mandya, had allegedly told him that she is going to celebrate a festival nearby, but came to Bengaluru instead.

 

On Monday, Seethalakshmi jumped into the well and the incident had come to light after a boy, who had gone to fetch water, saw the body and informed the police. During the investigation, Shankarapuram police, who at first were unable to ascertain the identity of the woman, began verifying the CCTV footage and gathered information from the locals, following which they came to know that Seethalakshmi was mentally disturbed.

 

She reached the math on Monday afternoon. “She had taken some money that her brother had given her, and perhaps to avoid arousing suspicion, we believe she travelled to Bengaluru in her nightie itself,” police officials said.

 

Around 3 pm, she used a coin phone booth near the math to call one of her relatives. “She told them that she was committing suicide and asked them to inform her brother and tell him not to look for her. She immediately disconnected the call,” police officials said.  Seethalakshmi’s relatives then called back on the same phone number, but a nearby shop keeper answered and said that it was a coin booth in Shankarpuram, near the Uttaradi Math. By this time, by about 7 pm, Seethalakshmi’s body was found by some people. Vishwanath, who came looking for Seethalakshmi, was told about the body and he rushed to the Shankarpuram police station where he identified the body,” police said.

 

Police officials said that a woman roaming around in a nightie at the math may have aroused suspicion on any other day. However, because it was Vykunta Ekadashi there were not many people outside. “We believe that she may have chosen that particular day to commit suicide because it is believed that anyone who dies on Vykunta Ekadashi gets moksha easily,” police officials said. The body was sent for post-mortem on Tuesday morning. Shankarpuram police have registered a case.