Chennai: Borrower, lender drink poison, former dies

Chennai: The old adage 'neither a lender nor a borrower be' would have helped save a life if it had been adhered to. In a bizarre incident, a man who lent an acquaintance money and threatened to commit suicide if the money was not repaid instantly, drank the poison himself after the borrower had grabbed the bottle of poison and drunk some it. Both men were rushed to hospital where one of them was declared dead on arrival.

According to sources, Manoj (45) ran a private finance company in Irulappan Street in Sowcarpet. His family came from Rajasthan and had settled here generations ago.Police said that Siddique, a resident of Triplicane and an acquaintance of Manoj,had reportedly lent Manoj around Rs 1 crore to help his finance company. He had asked for the money to be repaid on several occasions but to no avail.

On Wednesday, Siddique visited Manoj at his office after office hours. He took a bottle of poison with him, and police believe he whipped it out and threatened to commit suicide right there in the office if Manoj didn't pay up.

Manoj is thought to have grappled with Siddique and told him he had no money. He then drank the poison himself. Siddique panicked, thinking he will get arrested for usury, and promptly downed the rest of the poison. The two were found by a man who visited the office later. The Elephant Gate police were informed and the two unconscious men were taken to the Rajiv Gandhi government hospital. Manoj was declared brought dead and Siddique was taken to intensive care, where his condition is said to be critical.

Manoj's body has been sent for a post-mortem and a case has been registered at the Elephant Gate police station. The police are waiting to take Siddique's statement.