COIMBATORE: Three members of a family died after being hit by a train near Nanjundapuram in Coimbatore on Thursday. Police suspect it to be suicide.
The deceased were identified as Varalakshmi (45), Yuvaraj (16), and Janani (15) who were residents of Thoraipakkam in Chennai. Varalakshmi was a tailor. Yuvaraj was a class 11 student and Janani, a class 10 student.
Preliminary inquiry revealed that Varalakshmi’s husband Thatchinamoorthy, an electrician, who was in massive debt, went missing two months ago following which the family was depressed. However, on March 29, Varalakshmi told her relatives that she was going to a temple in Coimbatore along with the kids.
Later, as their relatives could not reach them, they filed a missing complaint at the Thoraipakkam police station in Chennai. Meanwhile, the trio were found dead after being hit by a train between Podanur and Coimbatore railway stations. The loco pilot informed the Southern Railway officials who along with Coimbatore Government Railway Police (GRP) rushed to the spot and sent the bodies to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) for postmortem.
Police said that the trio would have killed themselves and took such an extreme step after Thatchinamoorthy went missing. Further investigation is on. (To overcome suicidal thoughts, contact the health department’s helpline 104 or the Vidiyal helpline run by Coimbatore police at 0422-2300999.)