Under loan burden, five members of family jump in front of train

SAMBALPUR: IN a heart-wrenching incident, five members of a family, including a couple and their three daughters, committed suicide by jumping in front of a moving train near Sambalpur Road railway station on Tuesday night. The Government Railway Police (GRP), Sambalpur, recovered the bodies on Wednesday morning and sent those for autopsy to VSS Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Burla.

The deceased have been identified as Dharanidhar Panda (50), his wife Sangita Panda (45) and their three daughters __ Ananya Panda (16), Aparajita Panda (14) and three-and-a-half-year-old Siddhi Panda of Jagannath Colony here.

Dharanidhar was a native of Burda village under Bheden block in Bargarh district.Dharanidhar, working as a music teacher in a private school, had been staying in the city with his family for the last 15 years. For the last six months, the family had been staying in a rented house at Jagannath Colony under Ainthapali police limits.

Reports said the loco pilot of Jharsuguda-Sambalpur DMU train informed the Station Master of Sambalpur railway station on Tuesday night that three females jumped in front of the moving train. Subsequently, GRP, Sambalpur, was alerted. The GRP personnel rushed to the spot and found that five members of a family had committed suicide.

Inspector-in-Charge of GRP station, Sambalpur, Chintamani Pradhan said from preliminary investigation it has been ascertained that financial crisis and loan burden drove the family to take the extreme step. Police recovered mobile phones, ATM cards, PAN cards and a bag from the spot.

Dharanidhar’s brother Somnath Panda termed the incident as painful and added that  the reason behind the extreme step can be ascertained after police inquiry. Dharanidhar was a friendly person, Somnath said.

Suspecting financial crisis as the reason behind the drastic step, Prasanna Gartia, the owner of the house where the family was residing, said Dharanidhar was under mental agony as many people, from whom he had borrowed money, were coming to his house frequently seeking repayment.