Twenty-five-year-old Udayakumar, the cemetery worker who was rescued by Chennai police officer Rajeswari on Thursday amid heavy rains, tragically passed away on Friday, November 12. Inspector Rajeswari had received praise for carrying him on her shoulders, and rushing him to the hospital in an autorickshaw. According to reports, Udayakumar, who was rushed to Kilpauk hospital in a weak condition, passed away on Friday afternoon.
The man had been found unconscious by the cemetery, after a tree reportedly fell on him. Inspector Rajeswari had told the media that she had received a call that a man was found dead, but when she reached the spot, she found that he was alive, but weak. He had suffered a concussion.
A video of the police officer lifting Udayakumar over her shoulders and trying to get him to a hospital had gone viral on social media, with the officer getting praised for her quick thinking. Officer Rajeswari, who is 53, told mediapersons that she received a call from the control room stating that a man had been killed as a tree fell upon him. However, upon reaching, they noticed that Udayakumar was still alive then, and was breathing and had a faint pulse. In the now-viral video, the inspector can be seen running and safely puts him in an auto and asks the driver to take him to the hospital.
In his commendation, the Chief Minister said that Officer Rajeswari’s actions have been a helping hand of the police for the downtrodden.
“Your recurring acts of rescuing destitute women and admitting them into government homes and bravely facing persons in conflict with the law have rightly received commendations from senior police officers and words of praise from the general public,” the Chief Minister said in the commendation.
Intense showers battered Chennai and other northern regions of Tamil Nadu on Thursday, November 11, while the depression over Bay of Bengal crossed the coast by evening. As many as 14 people were killed in rain-related incidents in the state, standing crops were submerged, trees uprooted and over a 1,000 tenements, mostly huts suffered damage across Tamil Nadu. The flooding in Chennai for the past four days threw normal life out of gear as closed, inundated subways and traffic diversions gave people a harrowing time.
With inputs from agencies