Pushed into well by friend, man dies

BENGALURU: A prank in a state of intoxication went horribly wrong, resulting in a man losing his life, even as six others in the group were video-recording the entire episode, at Tavarakere on the outskirts of the city on Saturday.

Lakshmikanth (27), a resident of Hebbur, who was employed in an electronic goods showroom in Machohalli, was pushed into a well on a farm land by his friend while six others were shooting a video. Lakshmikanth drowned and died as he did not know how to swim. Police have since taken five of them into custody while two are at large.

A senior police officer said that a group of eight friends had gone on an outing on Friday evening and all were under the influence of alcohol. Early on Saturday, they came to Thagachaguppe village where they decided to take a bath in a nearby well.

Lakshmikanth’s friend Balaram pushed him into the well while the six others were recording a video of the incident for a few minutes. When they noticed that Lakshmikanth was drowning, they tried to rescue him, but in vain. They then ran away from the spot and Balaram sought the help of some villagers to lift the body from the well. 

Accused show video clip to cops

The Tavarekere police were alerted about the incident and the body was later shifted to hospital for postmortem. During interrogation, the five arrested showed the video clip to the police. A case of murder has been f i led against Balaram, a resident of Gollarapalya, who works as a cab driver.

Paramesh, an eyewitness, told t h e police that the group had come in a car and stopped the vehicle near a farm land. They were sitting on the edge of the well for about half an hour and after a while, they started screaming for help. Paramesh said he went to see what had happened and noticed that Lakshmikanth was stuck in silt. Balaram then went to call the villagers and about 100 people rushed to the spot and retrieved the body.