Bengaluru: Around four divers from the NDRF, one of them fitted with an underwater camera too, searched for the bodies for nearly an hour, but as the water was murky with silt deposits and weeds, the visibility was zero after a certain depth, an NDRF official said.
At around 30 feet depth, the lake starts to get dark. The place where the actors jumped, according to the film crew was said to be having a depth of 40 feet, but the local villagers claimed the depth in that area was more than 80 feet.
There are deep gorges inside the lake running to the depth of even 110 feet, one of the villagers pointed out. If the bodies drifted and got trapped in these gorges then it will be difficult to retrive them, and one can only wait until it comes afloat after a couple of days.
Some of the locals, who claim they come across at least two drowning cases in a month in the lake, hinted that by now fishes may have started to feed on the bodies.
No insurance?
“Both of deceased were aspiring actors, who were paid Rs 3,600 per shoot. They were stunts-men who mostly acted as villains or in supporting roles. While there are insurance available with film fraternity/film makers of the neighbouring states such as Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, there is no such privilege for Sandalwood actors, a source from the Film Chambers of Commerce stated adding the film producer should make sure that dangerous stunts performed or shot, the actors should have insurance for hospitalization and life.”
Both Raghav Uday and Anil were childhood friends and had no personal insurance as they were aspiring actors and wanted to first become popular in the industry sacrificing even their incomes, said Mohan a cousin of Raghav Uday.
Anxious wait for family members
On any other day, this congested lane in Kadirenahalli Cross could have easily been written off as yet another street in the suburbs of South Bengaluru. But on Tuesday, a sea of people thronged the lane. Anxious policemen were in force too, to avert any protest or outburst from distressed relatives.
In stuntman Anil’s house, all hoped that there’s some ‘good news’. Anil’s sister Ashwini asked, “Please bring my brother back just once. Can the Sandalwood actors or the government bring my brother back?” Anil’s elder sister Aarthi said, “Let the government take the responsibility of finding my brother’s body.
Let NDRF use some technology and machinery to continue the rescue operation in the night.” ‘Where is Vijay who called my son his brother?’ “The movie’s lead actor Duniya Vijay addressed my son Raghav Uday as thamma (younger brother). Yesterday, he saw his ‘thamma’ drown and did nothing to save him. Where is Vijay? Not a single actor visited us and asked how we are surviving,” said Kausalya, Uday’s mother.
She said that on Sunday, Uday was suffering from a head injury. “He was unwell and had fever the previous night. Despite that he was shooting since morning. The film crew should have been more considerate about his health. I lost my son because of the crew’s negligence,” she said.
She alleged that the crew was ready with a boat to rescue Duniya Vijay but not the other two. “Why couldn’t they use the same boat to save Uday and Anil? Probably, our lives don’t matter, we are poor,” she said.
Shivaraj Kumar, Yash, Jaggesh visit spot
Apart from Shivaraj Kumar, Sandalwood actors who visited the spot included Jaggesh, Yash, Sadhu Kokila, Rangayana Raghu, Prejwal Devraj, Nikhil Gowda, and Ragini.
Curious locals from nearby villagers were seen rushing to the spot using shortcuts and hundreds of bikes were parked on the either side of the Magadi main road to catch a glimpse of the sandalwood actors and some even tried to capture selfies walking in front of them.
Divers from Mangaluru
Divers from Mangaluru who are experts in fishing out bodies even during night, arrived on Tuesday evening at the T.G. Halli reservoir to search for the bodies after installing search lights on boats.
