In a shocking incident, a 33-year-old tailor, who was upset with the condition of his 4-year-old son, as he was hearing and speech impaired, threw the boy into an irrigation channel at Palayamkottai on Wednesday night. Later, the man also jumped into the same channel and ended his life.
Sources said K Ramasamy Periyar (33) a tailor and wife Muthumari (26), were initially residing in Sankarankoil. The couple had two children, Harikrishnan (4) and Brintha Mari (2). The elder son suffered from hearing and speech impairment.
The couple took Harikrishnan to various places for treatment, including the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing at Mysore, where the boy was provided with hearing aid machine.
Six months back, Ramasamy shifted to Puthupettai at Palayamkottai for better treatment to Harikrishnan. Their daughter stayed with Muthumari back at Sankarankoil. After coming to Palayamkottai, Ramasamy started selling textile materials. He took his son to a private speech therapist at Palayamkottai.
On Wednesday night, a quarrel erupted between the couple over the condition of their son even after treatment. The entire family decided to commit suicide. Around 2.45 am, Ramasamy took his son out and threw him into the Palayam Channel.
Later, he returned home and asked his wife to join him, Muthmari turned down the idea. Upset over the sudden retreat of his wife, Ramasamy went out and jumped in to the same channel. A panicked Muthumari shouted for help. Neighbours rushed to the spot and alerted the Fire and Rescue service staff. However, efforts to trace them failed.
Around 1 pm Ramasamy’s body was found near Mulikulam. A few hours later, the son’s body was found at Pottal. Police recovered the bodies and sent it for postmortem to the hospital.