Nellore: Four members of a family late on Friday night consumed pesticide in a bid to end their lives at Allinagaram in Komarolu mandal of Prakasam district because of burden of debt.
Three of them died while a 10-year-old girl is fighting for her life at the hospital. The deceased have been identified as Jakka Raghavendra Nagaraju, 45, his wife Eswari Devi, 35, and daughter Vaishnavi, 13. Varalakshmi, 10, is under treatment at a hospital in Giddalur.
According to locals, Raghavendra was a graduate working at a restaurant run by his friend in Bengaluru for the last 10 years. He took the job as he could not find a better option.
Raghavendra started borrowing money to maintain the family since his income was insufficient. The man was also reportedly into gambling. He had taken almost Rs 10 lakh as loan in Bengaluru and Rs 3 lakh at Allinagaram from different people.
Raghavendra sold his house in Allinagaram for Rs 3 lakh to his brother-in-law but the latter sought time to make the payment.
Raghavendra’s wife and daughters studying Class VIII and V were staying at Allinagaram. Due to the pressure from lenders in Bengaluru, he would frequently be visiting his village.
On Friday night, he brought with him some soft drinks and liquor apart from pesticide. After consuming alcohol, he made his daughters and wife drink the soft drinks mixed with pesticide.
Eswari Devi and Raghavendra fell unconscious soon after consuming the pesticide. Locals and relatives who smelled the pesticide entered the house when they did not get any response to their calls from outside and found them unconscious
Police arrived at the spot and shifted them to the government hospital at Komarolu in a private vehicle with the help of locals.
The elder daughter Vaishnavi died on the way to hospital. The younger, Varalakshmi, is fighting for her life in a hospital at Giddalur.
In a suicide note, Raghavendra said he is taking the extreme step because of loans and no one from his family was responsible for the suicides.
He suggested his brother in law to pay Rs 3 lakhs to two persons from whom he had borrowed money. Giddalur CI V. Sreeram and Komorolu SI Brahma Naidu are investigating the case.
