Family loses its lone bread-winner in a tragic love story

Ullal, August 1: A love story which went terribly wrong ended in the murder of Srikanth Kanchan, a 19 year old youth, who was the sole bread winner of his family in Ullal.

Srikanth was in love with the accused Bharatesh's sister for the past four years, which was strongly opposed by her family.

Srikanth, a fisherman by profession was stabbed on the chest by Bharatesh and his brother-in-law, Ashwin.

Responsibility of looking after the family had fallen on the shoulders of Srikanth at a very young age. He had to quit school and work as a fisherman at the young age of 12. He had married off one of his sisters to a groom settled in Mumbai and had also managed to build a home. He was also the only hope for his elder sisters Yogini and Pushpa and his mentally challenged brother, Chandrashekar.

Fortunately for him, his hard work and good intentions paid off and his business flourished in a short span of time. He purchased a fishing boat in partnership with few others. He was also an active member of Bajrang Dal and was involved in various community services.

As any youngster of his age, he had fantasies about life. Over the last four years Srikanth had been in love with a girl. The girl's family was against any such affair and he had been warned several times over by her brothers, including the accused Bharatesh.

Srikanth was spending time with his friends near Mogaveerapattana club on Saturday night, before he started walking towards his home. He was a few meters away from his home when he was stabbed severely on the chest by Bharatesh and his brother-in-law, Ashwin, who fled from the spot.

An eyewitness informed about the tragic incident to Srikanth's kin. But, Srikanth breathed his last due to severe blood loss within minutes.

Accused Bharatesh is an employee at a mobile shop in Mangalore. Ashwin is a fisherman. It is said that the houses of the accused were damaged by the furious crowd. A team led by Ullal Police Inspector Sanjeeva Nayak and Sub-Inspector Manjunath are in the hunt for the accused duo.