Elderly couple found dead at park in Ashok Nagar

CHENNAI: An elderly couple who were working as maintenance staff in a corporation park at Ashok Nagar, killed themselves in their room within the park, by consuming pesticide. The deceased, Iruthayaraj (61) and his wife Pushpa Mary (58), were natives of Nagapattinam and had been working as contract staff of a private firm, maintaining the garden on 48th Street in Ashok Nagar for over a decade, said police.

At around 5.30 am on Wednesday, when residents of the locality went to the park for a morning walk, they saw the couple lying unconscious.

“They alerted the park supervisor, who in turn, alerted Ashok Nagar police station and the ambulance. However, since the ambulance staff confirmed that they were already dead, the bodies were sent to Omandurar government hospital for postmortem. While Pushpa was found dead inside their room, Iruthayaraj was found lying on the walking ramp with bleeding ears,” said a police officer. The preliminary report says that the couple consumed pesticide meant for the plants in the park.

“The couple went to Nagapattinam on December 20 to spend time with their only son Devendran’s family and returned to the City on December 27. They had given Rs 10,000 to Devendran and on December 31, transferred an additional Rs 2,500 from their bank account to the son’s account. It could not be confirmed whether there was any quarrel between the family members in Nagapattinam. The couple had prepared dinner, but chose to consume poison,” said the investigation officer.

Devendra, a labourer, is the only son of the couple and lives with his family at Nagapattinam. The couple did not want to depend on their son and wanted to lead life on their own, police quoted Devendran as saying. Ashok Nagar police have registered a case and handed over the bodies to Devendran after postmortem. 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.