Mala

KOLAR: A 20-year-old student obsessed with selfies died allegedly shooting a video for TikTok at a farm pond in a village in Kolar district on Friday evening.

Police sources said Mala had written her final-year BA examinations a couple of months ago, and was eager to take up a job to help the family of four tide over financial crisis. Police said the selfie tragedy occurred at the farm pond in Vadageri, about 10km from Kolar and 75km from Bengaluru. TikTok is an app for creating and sharing short videos.

Her father Narayanappa is a labourer, and mother Rathnamma is a homemaker. Her elder sister is married, and the only brother works in a private company.

After receiving information that a girl drowned in a pond and her family buried the body late Friday night, circle inspector of police SR Jagadish said police exhumed the body and conducted an autopsy. The mobile phone on which the girl is said to have shot the video could not be traced.

The unmanned farm pond, about 30ft by 30ft, had not been fenced. Police sources said the girl was allegedly trying to enact a film scene when she met with the accident, and suspected she stood at the edge of the deep end of the pond. Her father Narayanappa, in a complaint to police, said his daughter had gone to get cattle fodder and might have accidentally slipped into the pond.

Lecturers and the principal of Government Women's College, Kolar, where the girl studied, said she was a bright student and had bagged Rs 10,000 scholarship for academic excellence in BA.

Principal Rajendra said her love for selfies could not be missed as the girl was often seen clicking photos on the campus. During a college function in May where actor Kishore was chief guest, the girl had expressed desire to join the tinsel world.

