Shantamma Venkat, a poor, destitute woman who was found at Alnavar railway station was moved to a care home in Belagavi on Friday.
The police and doctors shifted the woman to the centre with the help of some social workers. She had recovered from weakness from starvation for a few days, and depression due to the untimely death of her young son.
Basavaraj Venkat, 30, was found dead in Linganamatha village near Alnavar on Wednesday. A farmer noticed the body and informed the Nandagad police. Investigators found out that he had decided to end his life as he was unable to feed his mother due to poverty and joblessness.
Basavaraj had left his village of Yalagachch in Haveri district along with his mother, looking for an unskilled job in Goa. He had boarded a train from Hubballi to Goa. However, his hunt for a job in the neighbouring state was not successful. The duo ran out of the little money they had and had nothing to eat. They boarded the train back. However, the ticket examiner forced the two ticketless travellers to get down at Alnavar. Basavaraj asked his mother to lie down on a bench in Alnanvar railway station and went out to look for food or a few hours of work that could earn him a wage. However, despite walking for a few kms and asking for alms or work, he could find neither. He ended his life in Linganamatha, the next village. Shreeshaila Matolli of Linganamatha informed the police.
When the Nandagad police inspector S.C. Patil contacted Mahesh Kivadasannavar, a doctor at the taluk hospital in Khanapur and shifted the frail woman. She was treated for a day and given food and medicines. Doctors certified her fit for transfer on Friday.
A team of social workers led by Jordan Gonsalves, the founder of Kadamba Foundation, and police constable Maruthi Turamari shifted the woman to the orphanage on Friday. Other activists like Kumar Tangam and Micheal Andrade joined Mr. Gonsalves in conducting the last rites of Basavaraj in Khanapur on Thursday.
