Chennai: A 58-year old farmer committed suicide on Monday in neighbouring Kancheepuram with his family members after his attempts to arrange funds for his elder daughter’s marriage from his friends failed.
The deceased were identified as Muthu (58), his wife Saraswathi (50), their daughter Indumathi (28) and their son Kamesh (25), residents of Kattupattur near Thiruvakkam in Kancheepuram. Indumathi who had completed her B.A. B.Ed, was working as VAO in Maduramangalam village in Sriperumpudur taluk, while her brother Kamesh who has completed his engineering was yet to land a job.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the family was upset over their inability to raise money for the girl's marriage since they had already taken loans for the education of both the children and were repaying it in small quantums. The lenders also reasoned that Indumathi, once married, will not be supporting the family and repay the loans.
This had sparked tension among the family members and Indumathi had told the family that her marriage could be put off until Kamesh gets employed. Two months ago, Muthu sold his harvest and bought Kamesh a new two-wheeler and that too was brought up during the unrest.
On Sunday night, Indumathi consumed pesticides laced jangiri before the family members claiming that she was their only problem. Distraught over this, the rest of the family followed the pact and committed suicide by hanging. The father and son hanged using a rope while the woman used her saree.
Since the family did not come out of the house until noon, the neighbours checked on them to find Indumathi lying down frothing from her mouth and the rest hanging. They called 108 ambulance service, and the cops. The paramedical staff declared all four dead at the scene. The bodies were subsequently moved to Chengelpet Government Hospital.
Indumathi was a kind hearted person who would throw her weight in support of applicants while applying for certificates required for education purposes. She would even help poor students with their fees, be-sides buying them books and other stationery.
