Namakkal: In yet another tragedy that echoed a familiar script of finance firm pressuring a farmer and abusing him for skipping an EMI payment for a loan taken, a farmer from near Rasipuram in Namakkal district committed suicide by consuming poison when he was away at Tiruchy on Thursday on some work.
Police on Friday said that the deceased farmer, Ramesh, 40, who had been doing agriculture in two acres of land found it unprofitable and to make good the loss in farm income went into the trucker’s business by purchasing a lorry with the help of a Rs 12 lakh loan from a local financial company.
Ramesh, survived by his wife Tamizhselvi and a son Mukesh, besides his parents, had himself taken to the wheel and was carting cargo for various parties. Though in the last six months, he had been promptly paying his EMI of Rs 31,000 for the loan, there was a slip-up recently.
Police said the financiers had allegedly sent their agents to Ramesh’s house to threaten and abuse him for defaulting on just one EMI recently. Ramesh told them that the truck had been sent on “hire” and on its return would hand over the vehicle to the concerned court. Ramesh had later left for Tiruchy on work.
However, the financier’s henchmen again created an unpleasant situation at Ramesh’s house during his absence and even abused and issued life threats before his parents. On hearing this, Ramesh at Tiruchy, was heart-broken by the treatment meted out to his family.
Driven to desperation, he video-graphed a brief speech in which Ramesh declares that he was committing suicide by consuming poison and explaining who was responsible for his death. He also left behind a letter explaining the whole thing, police said.
In an unconscious state, Ramesh was rushed by neighbours in Tiruchy to the government hospital there, but he died on Thursday evening. Police retrieved all the materials left behind by the farmer and are investigating.
