It was allegedly the fear of losing one another that made Arya Ashok and Amritha Anil from Kerala's Kollam district take their own lives. After the two young women went missing on Saturday, there were frantic searches to find them and eventually their bodies were recovered from a river in Kottayam. Arya and Amritha, both 21-year-old college students, were close friends and are believed to have died by suicide. Though the police say the exact reason for the suspected suicide is not clear, preliminary probe suggests that the two women were intimate friends and were disturbed as one of their marriages got fixed.
According to the police, the women who studied together had gone out to Kottayam on Saturday, telling their families that they were going to get their degree certificates. Since they did not return home later in the day, police said the parents filed a missing complaint with the Chadayamangalam police station in Kollam. Meanwhile, Vaikom police in Kottayam district discovered the bodies of the women in the Murinjapuzha river.
“We got a report from an eyewitness on Saturday that someone had jumped into the river. The subsequent search led to the discovery of the two women. We also found their footwear near a bridge across the river. This was identified by the families of the women even before the bodies were found,” officials from Vaikom police told TNM.
The mortal remains of the women have been kept at the Government Medical College in Kottayam for post-mortem.
According to reports, Amritha’s family had recently fixed her marriage. While Amritha’s body was found near Poochakkal, Arya’s body was found near Perumbalam South boat jetty.
In May this year, two women from Tamil Nadu had died by suicide reportedly fearing a separation. Similar to the present case in Kerala, one of their weddings had been fixed. Reportedly, the women killed themselves following this.
If you are aware of anyone facing mental health issues or feeling suicidal, please provide help. Here are some helpline numbers.
Tamil Nadu:
State health department suicide helpline number - 104
Sneha Suicide Prevention Centre - 044-24640050 (listed as the sole suicide prevention helpline in TN
Andhra Pradesh:
Life Suicide Prevention Helpline No.78930-78930
Roshni Helpline 1: 9166202000 Helpline 2: 9127848584
Karnataka:
Sahai : 24-hour helpline numbers: 080- 65000111, 080-65000222
Kerala:
Maithri helpline - 0484-2540530
Chaithram helpline: 0484-2361161
Both are 24-hour helpline numbers.
Telangana:
Telangana government suicide prevention toll free no - 104
Roshni- 040-66202000, 6620200SEVA- 09441778290, 040 - 27504682 (between 9 AM and 7 PM)