Tirpur: Ryot, mother end lives after killing 2 kids
As his liability mounted, he was under severe stress and depression of late, police said.
Tirpur: A tragic death pact saw a farmer and his mother commit suicide after the family head is believed to have first caused the death of his two children in a village in Tirupur district in the wake of unbearable financial burden, police said on Sunday.
The farmer Velusamy and his 70-year-old mother Mayilathaal, were found hanging from a tree in front of their home, to the shock and dismay of their neighbours on Sunday morning. They then checked inside the farmer's house, only to find his 11-year-old daughter Rajalakshmi and four-year-old son, Manika Sathyamoorthy had also died by hanging.
Police said Velusamy, 38, resident of Kethalrev village near Dharapuram was a farmer owning some three acres of land. He had also leased out his land and had borrowed heavily from a bank and some private financiers.
With drought conditions persisting in the district for the last two years, Velusamy could not earn sufficient money from farming to help pay off his debts. As his liability mounted, he was under severe stress and depression of late, police said.
Liquor addiction came as another bane and the man refused to go for daily wage work despite his wife Selvi's repeated pleas to help keep the family going. She has been working in a knitwear factory nearby and had been separated from him for some months now.
On information, Kundadam police rushed to the spot and recovered the four bodies. Preliminary enquiries showed that Velusamy had first murdered his children by hanging them from the ceiling of his house, before the farmer and his mother committed suicide. A case was registered and further investigation is on.