Erode/ Namakkal: The stigma of 'HIV Aids' runs deeper in society for all the awareness campaign run by the government and NGOs'.
In a tragic episode late on Saturday night at a village near Andhiyur in Erode district, unable to bear the pain and depression from the late stage of the disease, 37-year-old Sikkaran, a daily wage worker of Merku Malai village near Baruhoor, mixed poison with food and gave it to his two daughters, before consuming it himself in a bid to end his life.
Police said Sikkaran, separated from his wife after the onset of HIV-Aids, took his two daughters- Sudha, 15, and Mekala, 10, to an Amman temple near Andhiyur where he sought to sniff out the lives of his two daughters before taking his life.
However, seeing his daughters struggling for life after they ate the poisoned food, he called the 108 ambulance and all three were rushed to Andhiyur government hospital. While Mekala died at the hospital last night not responding to treatment, Sikkaran and Sudha were sent to Erode government hospital. On Sunday, Sudha succumbed to the poison, even as her father battles for life there. Andhiyur police have registered a case of murder and suicide against Sikkaran.
In a similar suicide pact in neighbouring Namakkal district, a woman sanitary worker, Mahalakshmi, with her three daughters, sought to end their lives over a family issue with her husband, by consuming a concoction from crushed poisonous ‘Arali’ (Ghanera) seeds on Sunday.
All four swooned at their home and neighbours rushed them to Namakkal government hospital where they are being treated.
