An argument in a bus between a conductor and a passenger took an unusual turn in Mangaluru on Sunday.
Twenty four hours after a bus conductor from Mangaluru jumped into a river, his body is yet to be recovered. A team of fire and rescue personnel have been on duty since Sunday afternoon.
42-year-old Devadas, a KSRTC bus conductor had on Sunday morning jumped into a river from a moving bus.
According to the police, he jumped into the river following allegations against him over not returning correct balance ticket money to a passenger.
A woman passenger who boarded the bus from Mangaluru had an argument with Devadas, when he claimed that the passenger had paid him Rs 100. The passenger, however, maintained that she had paid Rs 500 and demanded that Devadas return the correct balance amount.
When Devadas repeatedly refuted the woman’s arguments, the bus was taken to Kadaba police station on the woman’s insistence.
After the woman filed a complaint against Devadas, the police recovered Rs 500 from his collection bag. Devadas was then let off by the police.
As the bus resumed service at around 11am and was passing by a bridge, Devadas jumped into Kumaradhara river near Subramanya.
"We have recovered a note from his collection bag which said that he did not want to live anymore. On his route sheet, he wrote that he had been humiliated after the incident and decided to end his life," Subramanya Sub-Inspector Gopal said.
The police have registered a man missing case.