Woman, mom poison 2 kids, 2 dogs, hang selves

Sources said, S Thulasi Devi (23) was residing with her mother S Santhi (50) and two children aged two years and 8 months in a rented house in Valavanpuram in Pattukkottai for the past 8 months. The family was rearing two pet dogs.

Neighbours said they often use to hear the children’s voice and dogs barking. But on Sunday evening, all these things were completely missing and there was no movement of Thulasi and her mother Santhi. This triggered suspicion in the neighbours, who checked with the house owner as to why the house was silent.

On Monday morning, when the owner looked into the house to check, he was shocked to find Santhi was hanging from the ceiling. Immediately he alerted the police, who rushed to the spot and broke open the doors. They found Thulasi and her two children lying dead on the bed while their two pet dogs too were lying lifeless besides them. The police recovered the bodies and sent them to Pattukkottai GH for post-mortem.

Initial investigations by the police revealed that Thulasi along with her mother and children was living at Mannargudi. After her father’s demise in the month of January this year, they had moved to Pattukkottai and started living in that rented house. While the police could not get any information about Thulasi’s husband, during inquiries they found that she was working in a textile shop. Since the enforcement of lockdown, she lost her job and they were struggling to make both ends meet.

The police suspect that the poor economic condition might have forced them to take the extreme step.