Student drowns during picnic

The body of the victim Nitish Kumar Yadav, an undergraduate student of Sri Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain College, was found on Saturday morning. He along with six other friends had gone visiting the dam, Tavarekere police said.

Yadav of Uttar Pradesh had gone for swimming while rest of his friends stayed back. “According to his friends, he drowned within a few minutes and nobody could save as they did not know swimming," said a police officer.

Police were informed only by 4 pm on Friday. The body was fished out from the water on Saturday morning.

College authorities and Yadav’s collegemates were not aware about the incident on Sunday. Many knew about the trip, from which a few students backed out at the last minute, but nobody expected that the picnic would turn out to be a tragedy. An acquaintance of Yadav said the student was very popular among friends as well as teachers.

The body was later transported to Rajarajeshwari Medical College and Hospital. The officials from the hospital confirmed drowning as the cause of death. The boy was brought dead, they said.

“Post mortem report showed no alcohol consumption and that the death was purely due to drowning.  His body is still kept in the hospital mortuary as the boy's relatives from UP are still expected," said Prasad, a doctor from the hospital.

After post mortem his body was handed over to Yadav’s father Subhash Chandra, a resident of RT Nagar.

Fire in shop

Fire broke out in a computer shop in Malleswaram 14th cross damaging property worth an estimated Rs 30 lakh.

The fire is said to have been caused by a short circuit. The Fire and Emergency Department pressed as many as seven fire tenders and 40 firemen, who brought the fire under control in less than an hour.

20 arrested, released

As many as 20 individuals were taken into custody by the Ashoknagar police on Sunday for getting into a quarrel with their neighbours. According to the police, they were partying at a house and refused to turn down the volume despite several requests from paying guest occupants next door. They were released later.