Depressed over debts, dress merchant kills self & pet dog in Arani

ARANI: A readymade dress merchant depressed over his wife leaving him committed suicide by hanging himself along with his pet dog in his house on Wednesday. Rajiv (45) of Kosapalayam in Arani was depressed over mounting debts in his readymade cloth business.

This resulted in his wife leaving him and going back to her parent’s home more than a month ago. Rajiv continued his business and stayed alone with his pet dog. However, when he found that he would be unable to repay his debts, he decided to commit suicide.

As he felt that his pet dog would be orphaned he decided to commit suicide along with the dog. He then hanged his dog and himself from the ceiling fan. As the house was locked for a few days and a noxious odour was coming from it, neighbours alerted former councilor VT Arasu. The latter informed Arani town police who arrived and broke open the door to find the dead man and animal. The body was sent to Arani Government Hospital while a case was registered.