Bagalkot boy's body retrieved

 The body of Thimmanna Hatti, who died after a fall into a borewell in Sulikeri village in Badami taluk, was retrieved at around 2 am on Monday and the last rites were performed in the family’s farm.

The equipment used to dig borewells came in handy to retrieve the body. A postmortem examination was conducted on the body and it was handed over to the family.

The boy’s father Hanumappa Hatti cremated the body in the presence of family members, district in-charge Minister S R Patil, legislators, officials and villagers.

Hanumappa thanked the government for helping him remove his son’s body, withdrawing criminal charges against him and for offering to make his field ready for agriculture again. He also thanked the ministers, legislators, officials and workers who worked day and night to save his son.

180-hour operation

The operation to rescue the boy and later retrieve his body has consumed close to 180 hours (from 2 pm on August 3 to 2 am on August 11).

Thimmanna, who had gone to his father’s sugarcane field with his cousin, had slipped and fallen 160 feet deep into a borewell on August 3. The rescue operation undertaken by the district administration remained unsuccessful. The robot operation by Manjegowda of Mandya and Manikantan of Madurai (Tamil Nadu) also proved unsuccessful.

A tunnel was being dug to the borewell as part of the rescue operation, but the villagers opposed it, saying it would damage the field.

Thimmanna’s parents also requested the authorities to stop the work and they were obliged.

The advocate general had recommended that the body should be retrieved and a postmortem examination be conducted, before it is buried.