Nagpur, Dec 18 : Sanjay Kalaskar, son-in-law of Kalawati Bandurkar, a farm widow from Yavatmal district in Maharashtra, who became the face of distressed farmers in a Rahul Gandhi speech in Parliament, committed suicide due to acute financial crisis at Kothoda village, some 200 km from here on Friday, The Hindustan Times reported.
Kalaskar, 25, consumed pesticide and ended his life on Friday morning. He was married to the youngest daughter of Kalawati and is survived by a two-year-old daughter.
Kishore Tiwari, of Vidarbha Janadolan Samiti, claimed that Sanjay was buried under debts and his farm yield was not adequate this season. He could not repay loans he had taken from moneylenders and local cooperative bank.
Kalawati, 54, shot into limelight when Rahul Gandhi visited her home in Jalkar and interacted with her. Her husband, Parshuram, a debt-idden farmer had committed suicide in December 2005 leaving her to feed nine mouths and repay a Rs 1 lakh loan.
Her tragedy brought Rahul Gandhi to her doorstep and fueled his speech about her in Parliament. Help rushed and it was enough to repay her loan, marry off her daughters and build a four-room house at Jalka.
