Family Of Five Dies By Suicide After Repeated Harassments From Money Lenders Became Unbearable

Five people of a debt-ridden family allegedly killed themselves after they could no longer bear the pressure being put on them by four women loan sharks, authorities said.

One of the victims, 45-year-old Archana Joshi died on Monday, Nov. 29, during treatment at a hospital in the Indian city of Bhopal.

Her husband, 47-year-old Sanjeev Joshi, and mother-in-law, 67-year-old Nandini Joshi died on Saturday, Nov. 27, at the same hospital.

The couple’s two daughters, 19-year-old Grishma and 16-year-old Purva died on Friday, Nov. 26.

The family consumed poison on Thursday, Nov. 25, after leaving a suicide note naming the four accused women loan sharks.

They were identified as Babli, her daughter Rani, Pramila, and her sister Urmila.

Before his death, Sanjeev narrated his ordeal to police, the Times of India reported.

He told the investigators that his wife had borrowed money from Babli as she was trying hard to make ends meet after her grocery store shut down earlier this year.

“Babli Dubey, the moneylender, frequently visited our house and quarreled with my wife over the 3.70 lakhs ($4928 approx.) that she had borrowed from Babli for our daughter’s education,” Sanjeev told the police.

“Fed up of the harassment, we decided to sell our house to repay the debt. We asked Babli to give us some time. But she refused. She instead frequented our house along with other women in the business and created ruckus and hurled abuses. After many efforts, we were unable to sell our house.”

“On Nov. 23, Babli and her gang came to our house around 5 pm, when I was at work and my wife had gone to the bank. They threatened to abduct my daughters. They publicly defamed us. Fed up, we decided that rather than being insulted every day, it was better that we ended our lives together.”

The family consumed rat poison after leaving the suicide note on the wall in the room where they were later found unresponsive by their relatives.

All the four accused women have been arrested, Station House Officer (SHO) Ajay Nair told the station.

An investigation is underway as police are trying to identify the involvement of other money lenders named in the suicide note.

More arrests are expected in the coming days, the SHO added.