Mounting debt and crop failure aggravated by drought resulted in the death of four members of a farming family at a village in Chamarajanagar district on Sunday.
While farmer Shivannaiah (45) committed suicide by hanging himself at Honnahalli village, his wife Kanya (35) doused her children, Preethi (8) and Priya (6), with kerosene and set them ablaze before torching herself.
The genesis of the incident has been traced to the loan availed by Shivannaiah to cultivate commercial crops such as chilli and banana. Besides, he took an advance payment to drill a borewell to irrigate the crops. But, severe drought resulted in depletion of the water table as well as drying up of the borewell.
A dejected Shivannaiah realised that he faced the grim prospects of crop failure coupled with pressure from moneylenders. The police said this was accentuated by frequent quarrels between the couple over the decision to take the loan, which had put the family in dire straits. Overcome by frustration, Shivannaiah left the house stating that he would sleep in the farm on Saturday night.
But when Kanya went to the farm early on Sunday, she found him hanging. Overcome by shock, she rushed home and set the children on fire before ending her life. Villagers, who heard their shrieks, rushed to the spot but could not rescue them.
District in-charge Minister H.S. Mahadev Prasad and senior police officials visited the village. Chamarajanagar rural police have registered a case.
Shivannaiah ended
his life by hanging himself; his wife set their children ablaze before torching herself
