Mother, twin sons, set themselves on fire due to loan harassment

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: In a heart wrenching incident, a 48-year-old woman and her twin sons ended their lives by self-immolation allegedly due to perceived harassment from a private bank staff on Wednesday.

The deceased were identified as Sukanya; and her sons Nikhit and Nischit, both aged 28, who were staying at a rented house in JP Nagar Phase-3.

Sukanya's husband, Jayananda, 65, is suffering from various illnesses. It was revealed that Jayananda was running a wood dye manufacturing factory but faced financial difficulties during Covid pandemic and shut down the factory.

He later fell ill after incurring further losses in his business endeavours. Jayananda had taken loans to run the factory, however after the factory was closed, the family found it difficult to repay the loan following which recovery agents from the bank began harassing them.

Sukanya was a homemaker and had recently started taking tutions for primary school students.

Nikhil was employed at a private firm and was working on an animation project while Nischit had just joined a firm in the city after completing MCA.

Source said that often recovery agents from the bank used to visit their house warning them to clear their dues.

Sukanya was depressed by the harassment. JP Nagar police said that between 7 am and 8:15 am while Jayananda was in the main hall, reading the newspaper, Sukanya and her twin sons set themselves on fire in an adjacent room.

Noticing smoke and listening to the cries of his family, Jayananda rushed towards the room but found it locked from inside.

With the help of the neighbours, he broke open the door, but it was too late. The police reached the spot and conducted an inspection of the charred bodies.

The police suspected electrocution because they found an electric cable lying in front of the bodies. Deputy Commissioner of Police, South Division, Sivaprakash Devaraj,said that a case has been registered at JP Nagar police station and the investigation is continuing.

The family has been struggling to pay the rent for the past few months, the olice said and are currently continuing the probe.