“They were in a relationship for the last 1.5 years. Back in Kerala, they lived in neighbouring villages about 3-4 kms away from each other and knew each other since then. The woman was a student of Physiotherapy in a city college while the man was studying MSc in Moodbidri. As per our information, they feared that their families might react badly to their relationship, but the parents say that they had no idea about them,” said Manjula, a sub-inspector with the Mangaluru city police.

According to the cops, it was only at the last minute that Vishnu’s family came to know about the relationship.