COIMBATORE: A couple and their 23-year-old daughter ended their lives in Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu on Thursday morning by taking poisonous pills used for killing rhinoceros beetles that attack coconut trees.
The deceased have been identified as R Sivamurugan, 50, his wife S Vaira Rani, 40, and their daughter S Yuvashree, 22. They lived in Leprosy Colony in the foothills of Marudhamalai.
Their younger daughter, S Hema, 19, refused to take the pills.
Sivamurugan was supplying milk packets and his wife was a homemaker. Yuvashree had pursued an undergraduate degree while Hema was a school dropout, police said.
Preliminary inquiries revealed that Sivamurugan was facing a huge lose in the milk supply business. He had also lent money to his friends and relatives, and they failed to repay the money to him.
The family decided to end their lives by consuming poisonous pills. Around 5am on Thursday, the couple and their elder daughter took the pills along with banana. Hema ran out of the house and informed neighbours.
The trio died at the residence. The neighbours informed the Vadavalli police who rushed to the spot and sent the bodies to the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital for postmortem.
Further investigations were on, police said.