Mumbai: Two debt-ridden farmers have ended their lives in the last 48 hours in Marathwada, officials said. Balasaheb Nivrutti Raner (32), a resident of Babhulgaon in Pathri tehsil of Parbhani district, hanged himself at his house on October 23, local police said. Raner was distressed as he hadn’t repaid a bank loan, and crops had failed for three years in a row. He was alone at home as his parents and two brothers were in the fields.
Raner had a post-graduate degree in Arts and had also completed a B.Ed. course, but couldn’t find a suitable job, a police officer said. He had borrowed ₹1,72,543 from the Bank of Maharashtra and ₹5,000 from the Parbhani District Co-operative Bank. PSI Awez Kazi, the investigating officer in the case, said, “During preliminary investigation, we found that he ended his life due to his inability to repay the bank loan and frustration over repeated crop failure. Before committing suicide, Raner had spoken to his mother about his frustration. He had also stopped eating.”
The police will be writing to the local tehsil office to find out if he was on the list of loan waiver scheme beneficiaries, Mr. Kazi said.
In the second incident, Khanderao Sambhaji Pawar (32), a resident of Kankadi in Nanded district, hanged himself from a tree on his farm last night, police said. The incident came to light on Wednesday.
Pawar owed ₹45,000 to a bank and was apparently depressed as he could not repay the amount. Nanded Rural Police are probing the case.
