A man, said to be suffering from depression, drove his car into River Kaveri near Ganjam in the taluk.
Police said Roopesh from Mahalakshmi Layout, Bengaluru, is said to have let his BMW car into the river, near a burial ground at Ganjam.
The car was floating in the three-foot deep water.
Roopesh is said to have been sitting in the half-submerged car for more than five hours.
Alerted by the locals, police rushed to the spot and tried to rescue him, but, he allegedly did not allow the police near him.
Later, his wife was summoned. She convinced him and brought him to the river bank. The car was lifted from the river, according to police.
The employees of Nimhans hospital, Bengaluru, came in an ambulance and shifted Roopesh.
According to the police, the man had driven the vehicle to the spot on Wednesday evening. He might have chosen the Ganjam burial ground as it was a desolate place. The car might have moved into the river while he reversed the vehicle, the police suspected.