Poverty and lack of means to meet the medical expenses forced a woman and her three grown-up sons to end their lives on Thursday. The incident took place in Amaravilli of Kottapalli mandal under Pithapuram Police Circle limits.
Ramu, an agricultural worker, married Bhoolakshmi long ago. Theirs was a consanguineous marriage. They had three sons — Prem Kumar (24), Anil Kumar (22) and Prabhudas (20).
As per Mr. Ramu’s version, Prabhudas had been sick for the last one year. Investigations in the Kakinada general hospital revealed that one of his kidneys was damaged. He was advised kidney transplantation. A few months later, Anil Kumar too fell sick and was diagnosed with a similar problem. One month ago, Prem Kumar was also diagnosed with kidney problem.
“I and my wife were told that the problems arose because of the consanguineous marriage,” Mr. Ramu said.
“As usual, I slept in a separate room on Wednesday night while my wife and sons went to bed in another room,” Mr. Ramu said, and added that he left for work in the early hours of Thursday.
As per the suicide pact they purportedly entered into, the woman and her sons woke up in the morning and went to Upputeru near Uppada Beach, where they consumed pesticide, tied their hands and legs with ropes they took along, and jumped into the water body.
On being informed about the tragedy by the neighbours, Mr. Ramu rushed to the spot. Wailing inconsolably, he narrated to the police the problems that drove his loved ones to suicide.
The bodies were traced about one-km away in Upputeru. They were handed over to Mr. Ramu, said Inspector Umar.