Eklavya Award winner hangs herself due to unemployment

Bengaluru: A 41-year-old former athlete, who brought laurels to the country in diving, allegedly committed suicide at her residence in Jayanagar on Friday night. She ended her life because of being depressed over unemployment since the pandemic lockdown.

Shilpa Balaraj was found hanging in her room on Saturday morning. She was an Eklavya award winner. Shilpa had won several medals at the national and international levels. Her husband was not in town and reportedly, she said that she was doing fine when he called her.

Her younger brother, Sharath Balaraj told that her suicide note stated that she was depressed because she did not have a job for more than a year.

She expected to resume work and hence, approached organisers of a summer camp. But everything changed with the increase in the number of Covid cases as the government had imposed restrictions on the functioning of swimming pools.

“We lost our mother two months ago and it affected all of us mentally. Shilpa had never shared her financial problems despite she and her husband not having a job for months”, Sharath said.

Her father, Balaraj, was a swimming and diving coach.