CHENNAI: A 26-year-old woman and her two children, aged 10 and 5, were found dead in a well near Padappai in Kancheepuram district on Thursday morning. The police said a handwritten letter by the woman indicated that the family had been burdened by debt following her husband’s death last year.
According to the Manimangalam police, the mother M Shamshiya and her children A Ashifa (10) and A Afsar (5), were residents of Vallalar Nagar, near Manimangalam. Shamshiya had been working in the sales department at a bike showroom near Madambakkam. but her income was not enough to pay the lenders, the police said.
Her husband, Asif (28), had died by suicide allegedly due to issues with his wife around one-and-a-half years ago. The couple had been living separately for a short while before the husband’s death, police said. Shamsiya had allegedly borrowed money to help support the family after her husband’s death, but was unable to repay them.
After the passersby noticed the bodies in the open well in a field near Madambakkam, the police and fire services personnel recovered them and sent them to Chengalpattu Government Hospital for postmortem.
The police said a note recovered from the spot indicated financial distress as the reason behind the deaths. A case has been registered and further investigation is under way to ascertain whether she was under pressure from lenders and the extent of her debts.
(Assistance for those having suicidal thoughts is available on TN’s health helpline 104 and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050)