An auto driver suffering from epilepsy and cut off from his family was found dead in a drain in North Bengaluru on Wednesday. Police suspect he fell into it by accident.
Vidyaranyapura resident Vinod Kumar, 38, was found dead in the drainage chamber (Doddamori) by local people in the early hours of the day. A preliminary investigation by the police found that he drank heavily around Tuesday midnight and visited a relative before wandering off.
CCTV footage shows him wandering on the streets of Srirampura until 2 am. He must have fallen into the drain only after that, police determined.
Kumar's parents reside in Vidyaranyapura and live off the rental income from a house in Dayananda Nagar, Srirampura, where he had grown up. After his parents moved out, he stopped going home regularly. The auto-rickshaw was his abode: after the day's work, he would get drunk and sleep in the three-wheeler. His parents got used to his routine and wouldn't search for him even if he didn't come home for days.
Police are awaiting the post-mortem report to determine the cause of death. For now, they have opened a case of suspicious death, said an officer from Srirampura police station.
Published 04 August 2021, 19:14 IST