Under debt, three women of family end life in Sangrur village

Driven by poverty, three women members of a family committed suicide by consuming poison at Kuthala village near Malerkotla on Saturday, police said

Driven by poverty, three women members of a family committed suicide by consuming poison at Kuthala village near Malerkotla on Saturday, police said.

Police recovered the bodies of a 42-year-old widow, her elderly mother and 19-year-old daughter from their house on Saturday morning. The woman’s husband, who was a soldier, died a few years after his retirement. (Representative photo)

The police recovered the bodies of a 42-year-old widow, her elderly mother and 19-year-old daughter from their house in the morning. The woman’s husband, who was a soldier, died a few years after his retirement.

The woman, who was the village nambardar, is survived by a daughter and a son, aged 14 and 15 years.

“Preliminary investigation shows that the two women and the 19-year-old committed suicide due to poverty. The bodies have been sent for post-mortem and investigation is on,” said Yadwinder Singh, the station house officer (SHO) at Sandaur.

Villagers said that the family, which was surviving on the soldier’s pension, was under debt as he had sold off their farmland.

According to sources, the 19-year-old had done well in the IELTS test, and the mother was keen to send her abroad, but the Covid-19 lockdown had added to their problems.