Karnataka youth swept away while shooting Instagram reels: ‘He wanted better video, fell into waterfall in second attempt’

While recording an Instagram reel, as he stood on a rock at the waterfall’s edge, he slipped and was swept away in the gushing stream. A team of around 50 people, including fire personnel, volunteers and experts, have been searching for his body for the last few days, but all in vain.

A police officer from the Kollur police station said, “The incident occurred around 3.15 pm when Gururaj was shooting the visuals for the reel. He said he had already taken a shot from the same spot but Sharath felt it was dark and wanted to record a fresh one. Sharath again stood on the rock and fell accidentally into the water. There was no mobile network for Gururaj to call anyone, and he reached the local police station by 5 pm to report the incident.”

Muniswami told The Indian Express,” Sharath had said he would return the same day. Even his mother did not ask where he was heading as she assumed he was going to work. Since his college days, he had been assisting me in business. He had bought an earth mover and started a business.” Sharath was the eldest among three children and the only son of Muniswami.

With heavy rainfalls, many parts of Udupi districts have witnessed flooding and landslides over the last few days, and some bridges have collapsed.

Eshwar Malpe, a local expert retrieving bodies from rivers in the Udupi region, said it would be impossible to recover the body if the rain persists. “The water levels have increased, and the force is intense. In this situation, the body either gets stuck in rocks and never floats or sometimes floats after 24 hours. We searched for around 6 km, and there was no trace. We can venture into the waterfalls only when the levels reduce. Seeing youth risk their lives just for a selfie and Instagram reel is heart-wrenching. They had walked at least 5 km and crossed two streams to reach the waterfalls,” he added.

The local police also sought help from Jyoti Raj, a free solo climber from Chitradurga who scales these terrains. He told The Indian Express, “I tried to get into the waterfall, but the water flow was intense. I was not sure whether I would be able to return.”