Man dies by suicide after his wife’s friend defaults on loan

NAMAKKAL: A man and his wife entered into a suicide pact at Pallipalayam in Namakkal district after the woman’s friend, for whom she had stood guarantee for a loan, attacked her when she asked her to repay the money to the lender. While the man died by suicide on Thursday morning, his wife’s attempt to hang herself failed.

The deceased man has been identified as P Srinivasan, 42, of Pallipalayam. Srinivasan and his wife, Kanchana, have a son and a daughter. The couple were working in the powerloom industry.

Kanchana's friend, Thilagam, 40, of Erode, had borrowed Rs 50,000 from money lender Thirumurugan a year ago. Thilagam had not paid the interest for the loan in the last few months.

Thirumurugan asked Kanchana to repay the loan as Thilagam had defaulted on it. Kanchana met Thilagam and asked her to settle the loan immediately. "This led to a dispute between the two," said an officer at Pallipalayam police station. During the heated argument, Thilagam and some unidentified people accompanying her attacked Kanchana.

Kanchana returned home and informed her husband about the incident. Both were deeply troubled and decided to die by suicide.

They hanged themselves using saris. Srinivasan died while the sari that Kanchana was using to hang herself tore. She fell and sustained injuries.

The Pallipalayam police recovered Srinivasan's body and sent it for postmortem. The began investigations.