Financial crisis behind NRK family’s suicide 

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Mounting debts and job loss prompted a family of three at Kadinamkulam to set themselves on fire on Thursday. The deceased have been identified as Padinjattumukku residents Rameshan, 48, his wife Sulaja Kumary, 46, and daughter Reshma, 23.

According to  the police, the man of the house losing his job prompted the family to take the extreme step.Rameshan had returned from a Gulf country on Thursday. The neighbours woke up by midnight after hearing the noice of the window panes breaking due to heat generated by the fire. The three were locked in the bedroom and in order to prevent the rescuers from reaching them, the door was blocked with an almirah and other furniture from inside.

This prevented the neighbours from delivering timely help. By the time they tried to douse the fire by pouring water through the window, the trio were charred to death. Rameshan was found lying on the floor, while the other two were lying in the bed.

Rameshan owed about Rs 30 lakh to as many as 20 people. He had borrowed money from them at high-interest rates for various purposes. During Covid-19, Rameshan had lost his job abroad. It was very recently that he got another job, as a driver, in a Gulf country,Kadinamkulam police said.

According to  relatives, Rameshan had paid a huge amount as interest to the people to whom he owed money. But due to an acute financial crisis, he was finding it difficult to repay the full amount. He returned from abroad on Thursday at noon and was planning to sell his land and house as the final resort to pay back the borrowed money.

A person was ready to buy the property, but he backed off after knowing that two people to whom Rameshan owed money had filed a case in court. As the effort to sell the property failed, Rameshan was under mental stress, one of the relatives said.

Police sources said the names of the persons who had lent him money were mentioned in his suicide note.
Rameshan also wrote the amount he owed to each of them and directed his father to repay them after selling his house and property. The police added that Rameshan did not raise any complaints against the money lenders and they have registered a case for unnatural death.