Covid-19 lockdown: Man in debt ends life

Even though the police did not recover a note from the spot, they suspected (based on the family’s testimony) that the man’s financial troubles could be the reason as to why he killed himself.

A 45-year-old man in debt allegedly took his own life on Monday morning by hanging himself from a fan at his house.

Murder, torture, humiliation (HT archives. Representative image)

Even though the police did not recover a note from the spot, they suspected (based on the family’s testimony) that the man’s financial troubles could be the reason as to why he killed himself.

The man was from the Badaun district and was employed with a private company in the Phase 2 area. Due to the nationwide lockdown, the company had shut its operations.

“According to a family member, he had borrowed money from a few people last year to get his daughter married and was in debt. He had been depressed for a while because of the loan,” Dharmendra Kumar Sharma, station house officer (SHO), Sector 49 police station, said.

The police were unclear about the amount of debt. The said he was further troubled because he was unable to pay off the debt due to the lack of work during the lockdown.

“The family was at home at the time of the incident on Sunday night. They were asleep. The man was in a different room. When everyone woke up on Monday morning, they found him hanging from a fan, after which they called the police helpline. A team was rushed to the spot. The body was brought down, taken in custody and sent for an autopsy,” the SHO said.

The body was handed over to the family after the autopsy. No complaints have been filed in this case so far.

Gautam Budh Nagar does not have a dedicated helpline to deal with such situations. A few major suicide prevention helpline numbers in India are +914066202000 from ‘Roshni’ (in Hyderabad) and +914424640050 from Sneha India Foundation (in Delhi).