KASARGOD: A former member of the Bellur panchayat in Kasargod district of Kerala, battling a neurological condition, was found dead behind his house, in a suspected case of suicide, said Adhur police.
Kunhappa Nayak (75) of Adwala in the border panchayat of Bellur was found dead by his son Balakrishna Nayak Thursday evening. Kunhappa, a member of the Marathi tribe, was debt-ridden and struggling to meet his medical expenses, said Sasidhara Golikkatta, a neighbour who had known him for decades. "He had attended several special medical camps, including the one held this April, to identify victims of (the indiscriminate use of the killer fertiliser) Endosulfan," he said.
Last month, he submitted a petition to district police chief K G Simon when he conducted an open hearing for Scheduled Tribe communities in Bellur. The petition seeking free medical treatment was forwarded to the Bellur Primary Health Centre, Sasidhara said.
Nayak needed around Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 to buy medicines every week, he said. He was also struggling to repay a loan of around Rs 2.5 lakh to the Bellur Service Cooperative Bank, the neighbour added.
He became a member of the panchayat when his ward was reserved for Scheduled Tribe in 1988.
He is survived by his wife Janaki, son Balakrishna, a driver, and three daughters Vanaja, Sasikala, and Shymala.
Fourth suicide in Bellur
Activists said Nayak's suicide exposed the lack of medical care given to persons with disabilities. "Last year, two persons ended their lives under similar conditions," said Ambalathara Kunhikrishnan, an activist fighting for the rights of Endosulfan victims.
Last year, on the day chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan was inaugurating a state-of-the-art BUDS school for children with disabilities in Periya, Rajivi (62), an Endosulfan victim hanged herself at her home.
Officials came to know of her death only the next day on November 5, 2016.
Her sons Srinivasan and Karunakaran had said that Rajivi was a heart patient and doctors had advised a surgery. She ended her life because she could not raise the money for the surgery, they alleged.
A week after that, on November 12, Jaganatha Poojaray (52), father of two Endosulfan victims, and an employee of Vaninagar Primary Health Centre hanged himself from a cashewnut tree near his house in Enmakaje panchayat, next door to Bellur.
Kunhikrishnan said one Janu Nayak had committed suicide in 2013 after an official said his name did not figure in the list of victims to be compensated by the government.