Two MITians drowned in Mannupalla lake

MB Boralingaiah, Superintendent of Police told STOI the incident took place around 1.45am to 2pm and the incident was reported to Manipal police station at 3am. The trio apparently took a boat that was chained to banks of the lake and went for a boating ride not realising that the boat had a hole. As water entered the boat, they apparently panicked and in their attempt to come back ashore, the boat capsized and the trio fell into the lake.

While Kiran is a third year student of information technology, Nikhila is his batch mate from computer science. Shaunak is a fourth year student of computer science. Expert divers and personnel from fire and emergency services are at the spot trying to fish out the body, SP Boralinghaiah said adding presently a case of missing person has been registered. "We might change it to unnatural death report once the bodies are recovered," he added.

A friend close to the victims on condition of anonymity told STOI that, "It is sad they are no longer there among us." Not wanting to speculate on the reasons that led to the incident, the friend however indicated that knowing the victims, he found it strange to accept they were at the place and at an unearthly hour. "Neither Kiran nor Nikhila had the wherewithal to pull a chained boat," the friend said, adding "Shaunak is too shattered to state anything."