The lifeless body of 27-year-old Hemanth Kumar, a food delivery worker, was discovered on Sunday morning after he tragically drowned following a fall into a drain leading to the Vrishabhavathi river in Bengaluru.
Kumar, a resident of Byatarayanapura on Mysuru Road, was returning home on Friday night when the accident occurred around 10:15 pm. Struggling to maintain balance, he collided with the central median, causing his motorcycle to veer off to the left side of the road, where he fell into a drain near the Jnanabharathi Metro station.
A district fire officer and his team found Kumar’s body floating in the drain on Sunday morning. Another senior officer from the fire and emergency services department noted that the accident site was overgrown with bushes and litter, and the drain was approximately 10 feet deep. “Usually the body floats after 24 hours, so on Sunday morning, we went near the spot and found his body,” the officer told the publication.
Kumar’s body was discovered 20 meters away from the location of his fall, buried in sediment. Despite an initial search spanning 2 kilometers along the drain from the accident site, rescue teams had found no leads.
Following a missing person report, the Jnanabharathi police were actively engaged in the search operation for over 30 hours. With the recovery of Kumar’s body, the Jnanabharathi traffic police are preparing to initiate a case against him for reckless and negligent driving.
“There might be negligence on the part of the civic authorities as well. The gap between the crash barriers could have been covered,” an officer said. Kumar’s body was handed over for a post-mortem and subsequently to his family. He is survived by his parents and a brother.