Chennai: Debts drive woman, son to commit suicide
As she peeped into the house through an open window, she was shocked to see the mother and son hanging.
Chennai: A woman and her son committed suicide in the city as their business crashed leaving them with a debt pile up.
Police said Amala John (60) and her son Joshua John (29), who were residing in Vanchi Nagar in Korattur, allegedly hanged themselves to death on Thursday night.
The incident came to light on Friday, when one of the neighbours found the house locked for the whole day. Getting suspicious, the neighbour rang the calling bell, but got no response.
As she peeped into the house through an open window, she was shocked to see the mother and son hanging. Their pet dog also was found dead, police noted. On an alert, police rushed to the spot. Further enquiries revealed that Amala was estranged from her husband a few years back, and the family was fighting hard to sustain their livelihood.
“Under such circumstances, Amala’s son Joshua, preferred to run a chit fund. But, even that business did not do well, and they plunged into deeper financial crisis,” police said.
In the recent past, both mother and son appeared to be ‘dejected’ over their business crisis, and decided to die, fearing customers’ demand for money on account of Deepavali, police said.
Police recovered a suicide note in which Joshua reportedly apologised to his customers. He had stated that they poisoned the dog to death, as there would be no one to take care of it. Police registered the case and are investigating.