Kerala: Middle-aged man commits suicide at Kochi Jewellery on Valentine’s Day

KOCHI: The person who committed suicide by jumping from a multi-storey building in Ernakulam city three days ago has been identified. He has been identified as Maram Reddy (42), a Telangana native who was a soldier in Ladakh. The victim was identified when the soldier’s identity card was found abandoned in Ernakulam South during the search conducted by the Kochi police. Maram Reddy’s relatives have started for Kochi after the news of his death was informed to them.Maram Reddy, a Havildar Major in the 18th Engineer Battalion of the Army in Ladakh, has been a soldier for more than a quarter of a century. He had come to Kerala for a pilgrimage with his close relatives. Maram Reddy was missing, but his relatives were returning home. They were hoping that he would return as he was a solitary person by nature. The police received information that his wife was also with him when he arrived in Kerala.Identity card as evidenceMaram Reddy committed suicide by jumping from the third floor of a prominent jeweller’s shop on M.G. Road in Ernakulam South on the afternoon of the 14th. He had left his clothes behind before jumping. Although the man could not be identified, the police assumed that he was from Andhra Pradesh and a pilgrim. The ash mark on his forehead and eyewitness accounts that he ran into the building shouting ‘Saranam Ayyappa’ also supported this.The police team, which checked the CCTV cameras in the city, checked the cameras in front of the Girls High School and Canara Bank near the South Railway Station Junction. It was found that Maram Reddy had the identity card around his neck when he went to the bank, but the card was missing when he came out. The identity card was found from the bank premises during further checks. Maram Reddy first threw away the identity card and then his clothes with the aim of not being recognised by anyone. The reason behind the suicide is not clear.