TN woman, daughter end lives following husband’s death

MADURAI: Following the death of her husband, a 70-year-old

woman

and her

daughter

committed suicide near Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday morning while her another daughter survived the suicide attempt.

The deceased have been identified as Pankajam, 70, of Oluginaseri and her daughter Mala, 48. The woman’s second daughter Sachu, 45, survived the suicide attempt.

Inquiries revealed that Pankajam’s husband Vadivelmurugan, 75, , who was a

goldsmith

, died on Monday. Vadivelmurugan, who was the sole breadwinner of the family, had been bedridden for more than a year. The couple’s daughters were unmarried. They lived in a rented house.

“The family had suffered due to poverty for years. A year ago, Vadivelmurugan became bedridden and this worsened their poverty. Their relatives did not come to their rescue,” Suchindram inspector S Jeya Chandran said.

Inquiries with Sachu revealed that they were unable to perform the final rites of her father due to financial constraints. They bought a new dhoti and towel, kept them near the body, locked the house and set out to Suchindram by bus around 4am on Tuesday to end their lives by jumping into the Ilaya Nainarkulam tank. They tied their hands together with a ribbon and jumped into the water body.

Around 5.30am, a resident who came to collect lotus flowers saw the trio motionless in the water . He informed the Suchindram police.

The police found Sachu alive and rushed her to Kanyakumari Government Medical College Hospital. Her condition is said to be stable, following which she was quizzed by the police.

The bodies of her mother and sister were also taken to the same hospital for postmortem.

The police retrieved the body of Vadivelmurugan from their house. The police said they would perform the final rites of the trio if their relatives did not come forward.


Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.