Team Mangalorean - Suburban

Mangalore: In a curious incident near Bajpe, a man was saved from a well after he jumped into it in a fit of dejection and alcoholic effect on Tuesday, July 17.

Babu Shetty (28), who makes a living by selling fritters ('chakkulis'),  stays alone in the house at Padil. His father had died some time earlier. His mother and younger brother live in Mumbai. His elder sister had died recently and the grandmother who was staying with him had gone to Kadaba to visit a family member.

He had reportedly taken to drinks out of dejection and solitude in the recent past. On Monday night, he had an altercation with a relative. On Tuesday around 3 pm, in a drunken state, he jumped into the well next to the house. The neighbours who witnessed the act saw him hold firmly on the pipe of the pump inside the well. They called the police, who arrived at once.

With the neighbours' help, ropes and a ladder were lowered into the well and the man was brought up. In the meantime, the fire brigade also joined the operation.

The man was soaked already. A neighbour said that he went inside the house, changed the clothes and rushed to a bar nearby to avoid public exposure, to warm himself and muster more courage and drown his sorrows.