Elderly couple in Tirupur hit by train, eyewitnesses claim they died by suicide

COIMBATORE: An elderly man and his wife were killed after being hit by a speeding train near Vanjipalayam in Tirupur district on Thursday.

According to the Government Railway Police (GRP) in Tirupur, the deceased have been identified as 69-year-old Thangavel and his wife Radhamani, aged 53, from Dharapuram.

Local sources said that the duo had arrived near the Vanjipalayam railway track at around 8 am on Thursday. They parked their car and walked onto the rail tracks where they were hit by the Coimbatore-Mayiladuthurai Janshatabdi Special.

On learning of the deaths, both GRP and local police visited the spot. The bodies were retrieved and sent to the Tirupur Government Medical College Hospital for postmortem.

Police sources said that Thangavel was running a lodge in Dharapuram. The GRP has registered a case and further investigation is on, local police said. Although relatives of the deceased as well as eyewitnesses have claimed that the couple died by suicide, police said this could only be confirmed after an investigation. 

(If you are in distress, call the Tamil Nadu Health Department's helpline 104 or  Sneha's suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050.)