Loneliness drove a 102-year-old man to commit suicide at his house in New Siddhapudur here on Sunday night.
Police said, N Rangasamy Naidu (102), who was unable to bear the failing health of his wife, allegedly committed suicide by hanging at his house.
Rangasamy Naidu was living alone in his house on VKK Menon Road in New Siddhapudur for the past two months after his wife R Ranganayaki (92) was hospitalised due to heart ailment. The couple’s only son had also left for Canada recently. “His three daughters live in and around Coimbatore with their families. Naidu was meeting his monthly expenses with the rent that he was receiving from a few of his properties. However, he became depressed after his wife’s hospitalisation. Upset over the loneliness, he resorted to the extreme step on Sunday,” a police officer said.
Despite his old age and fragile health, the 102-year-old managed to tie a rope on a clamp on the ceiling and hung himself.
His suicide came to light on Monday morning when one of his sons-in-laws visited him to give food. Relatives told police that Naidu, had attempted suicide twice earlier. However, the suicide came as a shock to the neighbours as they termed him a jovial person. “Even at this age he was active and walk to my shop to buy groceries. Even on Sunday he came to my shop and was talking to me normally,” recalled a shop keeper.