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Couple poisons kids, commits suicide in Tripura; Opposition slams government over poverty
The incident has triggered a political slugfest in the state, with the CPI(M) and the Congress blaming it on unemployment and starvation, while the ruling BJP accusing the earlier Left Front rule for its alleged failure to implement poverty eradication measures.
A couple allegedly committed suicide in West Tripura district after poisoning their two children, police said on Sunday.
The incident has triggered a political slugfest in the state, with the CPI(M) and the Congress blaming it on unemployment and starvation, while the ruling BJP accusing the earlier Left Front rule for its alleged failure to implement poverty eradication measures.
“Prima facie, it seems 40-year-old Paresh Tanti and his 36-year-old wife Sajani had poisoned their five-year-old daughter Rupali and 11-year-old son Bishal and then hung themselves from a tree near their house in Sanyasipara village on Friday night,” Superintendent of Police Manik Das said.
The bodies were recovered and sent for post-mortem the next day. “Tanti had taken loans from two financial institutions and was unable to pay the instalments. He had also bought a piece of land, but could not obtain the deed papers,” Das said.
The CPI(M) alleged that the incident happened due to lack of work and food. “Tanti had borrowed ~80,000 but was unable to pay the instalments due to lack of work. His family was starving because there was no money to even buy food,” the CPI(M) statement said. Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee convener Subal Bhowmick said, “They have died due to poverty. We urge the BJP-IPFT government to generate more jobs to save the poor from starvation.”
BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharya, on the other hand, said, “If the Tanti family had died of poverty then CPI(M) should be made responsible for it because, in their 25 years of rule, they did very little for eradicating it. We are trying to improve the situation.”
