Burdened by debts, three of family end lives in Channarayapatna

HASSAN: Three members of a family, including a 13-year-old girl child, ended their lives by jumping into a canal at Kere Beedi in Channarayapatna. The bodies of the parents were found on Wednesday and a search was on for the child.

The deceased are Srinivas (43) who was working as a car driver in Bengaluru, his wife Shwetha (36), a teacher at a private school, and their daughter Nagashri (13), a Class 7 student. Family sources said that Srinivas had run into huge debts and unable to repay them, the family ended their lives.

Distraught family members at the hospital mortuary.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Srinivas had quit his job and returned to his village. Family sources said recovery agents of finance companies would harass him regularly and had even seized his motorcycle. He was out of a job for the last two months, they added.

After quitting his job, Srinivas had got hooked to online rummy and had accumulated huge debts. The family left home on Tuesday and hadn’t returned. Srinivas’ parents looked for them everywhere and later lodged a missing persons complaint with the Channarayapatna police.

Hassan SP Mohammed Sujeetha briefing the media about the incident.

Superintendent of Police Mohammed Sujeetha said that the bodies of Srinivas and Shwetha were found in the Hemavathi canal near Mudlapura in Bagur hobli. The police and Fire and Emergency Services personnel are continuing their search for Nagarshri. A case has been registered at the Nuggehalli police station.