Bhopal: Unable to pay off debt, family of five attempts suicide; three dead

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Three persons in the Piplani Police Station area of Bhopal district have died and two are fighting for their lives in the hospital after five members of a family attempted suicide due to their poor financial condition, which had made it hard for them to repay the loans.

Debt-ridden mechanic Sanjiv Joshi (47), his mother Nandani (67), wife Archana (45) daughters Grishma (21) and Poorvi (16) had consumed cold drinks laced with poison on Thursday night while being live on video with friends through Whatsapp, he said.

"While Nandani and Poorvi died on Friday, Grishma died in hospital on Saturday morning, taking the toll in the incident to three. Sanjiv and Archana continue to be under treatment," said Piplani police station in charge Ajay Nair.

"During the initial investigation, it was revealed that one of the victims had borrowed a sum of Rs one lakh from two women named Pinki and Babli for some works related to a shop run by her father. The amount to be paid back was Rs three lakh after adding interest to it. The family was yet to pay a large portion of this account. Fed up with such circumstances, the entire family decided to commit suicide," Rakesh Shrivastava, Chief Superintendent of Police, Govindpura said.

"The family also killed two of its dogs and a mouse by poisoning them," he added. According to the information shared, the family had a quarrel with their lenders on November 11. Even two days back, their lenders had come to threaten the entire family. Investigation into the matter is underway.