Suicide pact over debt claims 2 lives in T’malai

Driven by mounting debt, a man’s alleged suicide pact led to the death of his wife and his seven-year-old child after consuming poison here on Tuesday.

According to the police, driver Seenu (32) of Dooli village near Chetpet in the district took a Rs.6 lakh loan to purchase a truck. The inability to repay it led to frequent quarrels between him and his wife Vijayalakshmi (29).

Seenu, allegedly deciding to end the lives of his family members-including his three children-and then commit suicide, took his family to a local temple festival nearby. On the way, he stopped near a lake at Pernamallur where he allegedly handed his family cool drinks laced with poison.

With all of them soon swooning, passers-by alerted the police who rushed them to a private hospital on Polur road. Vijayalakshmi, however, succumbed there.

The others were immediately taken to the district government medical college hospital, but Seenu’s son, Rithik Roshan (7) succumbed en route.

The Pernamallur police have registered a case.