A farmer committed suicide allegedly because he was in debt, in Udupi district.
Rama Kulal (45) consumed rat poison at Kavarady village on October 3 because he had a debt of Rs. 2.5 lakh. He was rushed to a private hospital in Kundapur and then shifted to the District Government Hospital in Udupi and then moved to the Wenlock Hospital in Mangaluru, where he breathed his last on October 7.
A case of unnatural death has been registered at the Kundapur police station and investigations are on. According to the Kundapur police, Kulal’s wife Sumati, in her statement, said that Kulal committed suicide unable to bear the debt burden.
Kulal has a 19-year-old son and a 16-year-old daughter. The family has two acres of land in Amasebail village, which is in the name of his father Basava Kulal.
Assistant Commissioner Charulata Somal, Kundapur tahsildar Gayatri Nayak and officials of the Agriculture Department visited Rama Kulal’s house at Kavarady village on Thursday.
According to an official, almost all the loans, which Rama Kulal was repaying, were in the names of his family members. The loan burden on him was Rs. 3.54 lakh. Of this, Kulal had repaid Rs. 1.05 lakh. The outstanding loan thus stood at Rs. 2.49 lakh.
However, there was no immediate loan repayment in the offing. Though Kulal was staying in Kavarady, the agricultural land was in Amasebail village. But this could be attributed to the matrilineal system followed in some communities in the coastal districts, the official said.
Ms. Gayatri Nayak told The Hindu on Thursday that the medical report and post-mortem report of Kulal’s death were still to be received. She would submit a report on this issue to the Deputy Commissioner on Friday.
The Deputy Commissioner would decide on whether it was an agriculture-related death and take action on the matter, she said.
