Debt drives family to suicide

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-size:="">KOLKATA: Seven members of a family killed themselves here on Sunday in an apparent suicide pact as they were unable to shoulder a growing debt burden, police said.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-size:="">Police said investigations had begun, but the precise reason for the suicides is yet to be determined.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-size:="">"From preliminary investigations, it looks like suicide," police officer Subrata Banerjee told reporters.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-size:="">A suicide note had been found from which it was known that the family, which owned a bakery in south Kolkata, was passing through financial difficulties. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-size:="">"The family apparently was under a huge loan burden," Banerjee said.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-size:="">Two children, including a three-and-half month old, were among the dead. While six of the deceased apparently consumed poison, a male member of the family hanged himself.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-size:="">Police suspect the eldest son of the family, Shankar Saha, 30, administered poison to the rest and then hung himself from the ceiling. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-size:="">The bodies were discovered by the housemaid, who had come in for her daily chores.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-size:="">Police said they received a phone call around 9.15 a.m. and was informed of the suicide in Charu Market area, a working class neighbourhood in south Kolkata.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-size:="">A probe is on to ascertain if some family dispute was responsible for the deaths.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-size:="">Neighbours said the Sahas were friendly and there was no visible conflict among the family members. </span></div> </div>