Woman, son kill pet dog, end lives

CHENNAI: Upset over business loss and unable to repay the Diwali chit fund money to depositors, an elderly woman and her son allegedly hanged themselves to death in Korattur on Friday night. The duo poisoned their dog before ending their lives.
Police identified the victims as Amala John, 60 and Joshua John, 29, residents of Vanchi Nagar, Korattur.

Amala was living with her son after separating from her husband two years ago. Her husband works as a security guard on Montieth Road, Egmore.

The mother-son duo ran a chit fund for Diwali in the locality and promised to give the depositors their money back with interest. Joshua, however, lost the money in the share market and was unable to recover the loss. They were supposed to pay the depositors on Sunday ahead of Diwali on Tuesday. "They feared that they might be targeted by the depositors and decided to end their lives," said an investigating officer.

Joshua has left behind a suicide note in which he stated that the dog was poisoned because he feared that no one else would take care of it. He also asked the forgiveness of the 274 depositors who were part of the chit fund.

The incident came to light when neighbour, Sophia, noticed that the house was shut for two days and did not see Amala stepping out of the house.

On Saturday morning, she rang the door bell, but didn't get a response. Amala would usually wake up early to feed her dog and would chat with her neighbours. But Amala stayed indoors since Wednesday and had told the neighbours that she was unwell and did not interact with anyone. When Sophia looked in through the window, she found their bodies hanging from two ceiling fans and their dog dead. She immediately alerted the police.

Police sent the bodies to Government Kilpauk Hospital for post mortem.

If in distress or having suicidal thoughts, call 104 for the health department's helpline that offers counselling or 044- 24640050 for Sneha suicide helpline.