Daijiworld Media Network - Chamarajanagar (SP)

Chamarajanagar, Nov 2: Four persons belonging to a single family living in Chikkalattur village near Hanur in the district ended their lives by consuming insecticide on the night of Monday October 31. It is said that the family was looking at a huge loan burden that was too large to be cleared in near future.

The deceased have been identified as Anand (26), his wife, Shobha (24), and their children, Priyaks (4) and Varshit (2). Anand was working as  private bus conductor and also cultivated his field. He had accumulated loans to the tune of four to five lac rupees over a period, and was under pressure to clear them.

At around 10 pm on Monday, it is said, Anand brought insecticide, which he mixed with  food and served as dinner to his two children and then to his wife.  After all the three fell very ill, Anand developed cold feet and fled from his home.

At around 11 pm, some relatives had come visiting the family and saw that Shobha and Priyaks had died. Small child, Varshit, too had become ill and writhing. When the relatives started wailing at this terrible sight, villagers came there and called for an ambulance. But before the ambulance arrived, Varshit breathed his last. Anand, who came to know that his wife and children had died, consumed insecticide he was carrying, and travelled to Kollegal in the private bus after climbing to its roof. By the time the bus reached Kollegal, he too had died.

Local MLA, R Narendra, zilla panchayat vice president, Basavaraju, tahsildar, Kamakshamma, Ramapura police station    circle inspector, Govindaraju, and others visited the spot on Tuesday and guided officials.  The villagers demanded payment of compensation to the family. MLA asked the officials to decide about compensation based on the postmortem report.