Nagpur: Financial debt, caused by medical treatment of wife suffering from cancer, drove a couple from Kerala to end their lives. The couple consumed a Frooti drink laced with poison late in the night at their rented accommodation in Gajanan Nagar area of Jaripatka Police Station in Nagpur on Thursday night. The couple reportedly planned to kill their 11-year-old daughter but she miraculously survived.
The incident came to the fore when their 11-year-old daughter woke up on Friday morning. The deceased have been identified as Riju Vijayan alias Vijay Nair (42) and Priya Riju Nair (40). The couple was a resident of Trivandrum, Kerala. They were presently staying at Gajanan Nagar, Jaripatka.
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According to the police, Priya was diagnosed with brain cancer. As a result, the family had come to Nagpur for medical treatment three months ago and took a house on rent in Gajanan Nagar. Every week, Riju had to take his wife to the hospital and spent at least Rs 20,000 every week for the treatment. As a result, Riju borrowed money from relatives and friends. As the loan was to be paid on July 1, he received calls from lenders.
An injection, costing Rs 1,700, was required every week for Riju’s wife from a super speciality hospital or she would bleed from ear and nose. The couple had been borrowing money for treatment, promising to return as soon as some assistance came from relatives in Kerala. The couple had even borrowed money from an e-rickshaw driver, who took them to hospital.
When Riju came to Nagpur, he used to show a cheque of Rs 3.69 lakh to the auto-rickshaw driver which he used to travel in. Riju even borrowed Rs 10,000 from the driver on the promise that he would return the money once the cheque would be encashed.
Frustrated with the financial debts, the couple decided to end their lives. On Thursday afternoon, Riju bought poison and Frooti. After having dinner, Riju mixed the poison in Frooti, a favourite drink of their daughter, and consumed it late at night when their daughter was sleeping. Vaishnavi woke up in the morning only to see her parents lying unconscious. The smell of poison in the room made her vomit and she left the house.
The house owner noticed something suspicious and opened the door only to see the bodies lying on the floor. Jaripatka Police rushed to the spot after receiving the information and sent the bodies for post-mortem.
According to another report, Riju and Priya consumed insecticide mixed in a mango drink, adding sugar to suppress the pungent odour. After offering her favourite idli and egg earlier in the day, the aggrieved parents lured their only child, Vaishnavi, with poison-laced ‘chicken rice’, another dish she relished.
Police found empty glasses with traces of sugar at the bottom along with a sachet of mango drink.
Reports stated Vaishnavi had tried to consume the chicken rice, but puked before falling asleep. Her parents had also tried to cut their veins, but the knife was too blunt for fatal cuts. Riju tried to cut his right hand’s nerves while Priya left.
The couple is learnt to have deleted most contact numbers of the family and friends from their cell phone. The bank passbook and an Aadhaar card had helped police recover the address of the couple and alerted the concerned control room of Kerala police. No suicide note was found.
Jaripatka police have registered a case of accidental death and are probing the matter further.
