Bengaluru: Three fishermen spotted body, called authorities

Chikkamagaluru: It was something unexpected for Rithesh, Pranesh and Sarathi- the three fishermen who were on their way fishing on Wednesday morning.

They had participated in the search operation to find CCD founder V G Siddhartha in the Netravathi River on Tuesday. They hail from Hoige Bazaar and know Netravathi River very well. After participating in the search operation on Tuesday, at night they had laid a net to catch fish and returned home. Around 6 am on Wednesday they started their boat to get the fish in the net they had laid on Tuesday night.

They were approaching the mouth of the Netravathi river when they saw something move beneath the surface. Suspecting it to be the dead body, they moved closer and discovered Siddhartha. "We brought it to the bank and informed the authorities," Rithesh said.

The body was found within 1 km of the estuary.  Had it crossed over, the body would have entered the sea and been almost impossible to find. Apart from agencies like Navy, Coast Guard, NDRF and police, fishermen and divers of Mangaluru and Ullal voluntarily participated in the operation.

The fishermen divers accompanied every boats of the authorities. Also they brought their own boats for the search operation. Fishermen tried their best in searching Siddharth on Tuesday but failed to get him. They also tried their best to search in the estuary to ensure that it does not flow further to the sea.

Former Minister Ramanath Rai and MLC Ivan D'Souza too attended the search operation and visited the hospital on Wednesday morning. The absence of BJP MLAs was questioned and criticised by many on the social media.