Four members of a same family attempted suicide over increasing debt at Kulasekarapattinam near here on Tuesday night .
Sources said Annamalai (70) and his wife Kameshwari (67), natives of Tiruchendur, had long back moved out of their home town and had settled at Tirumangalam, near Madurai, where they were running a grocery shop. The couple had three children, Muthuraja (37), Valarmathi (30) and Kalarani (25). Of the three, Muthuraja and Valarmathi were married and arrangements for the marriage Kalarani were underway.
Muthuraja was residing with his family at his parents’ house and was also taking care of the grocery shop. Valarmathi lived with his husband in a nearby house in the same locality at Tirumangalam.
Meanwhile, Annamalai had borrowed money from a person and was not able to pay the amount back. He could not even clear the bills of the goods that he had bought for his grocery shop. When Annamalai’s creditors started pestering him to repay the money, he decided to take the extreme step.
When he informed his decision to his family members, they also accepted. So all the five members, Annamalai, Kameshwari, Muthuraja, his wife and Kalarani went to Tiruchendur Murugan Temple on Tuesday morning.
After worshipping at the temple, Annamalai stayed at the temple itself. Other family members went to their native Kulasekarapattinam.
After finishing the darshan at Chidambareshwarar temple at Kulasekarapattinam in the night, all the four sat near the temple wall and attempted suicide by slitting their wrists. A little later, they fainted. However, before slitting his vein, Muthuraja had called his friend at Tirumangalam and informed about the suicide pact of their family.
His friend immediately informed the Tirumangalam Police, who in turn alerted the Thoothukudi SP office. Information about the suicide plan was passed on to the Kulasekarapattinam Police, who rushed to the spot around midnight and saved the family members. The family members were rushed to the Tiruchendur GH. Doctors, who attended on the four, later informed that they were out of danger but were still undergoing treatment.