WB: Elderly man kills wife and commits suicide over financial stress

Unable to bear the treatment cost of his wife, who was suffering from cancer, a man committed suicide. Prior to which, he strangled his wife to death.

Jadavpur (West Bengal): A 62-year-old man allegedly strangled his wife, a cancer patient and then committed suicide by hanging self, said police. The man left a suicide note stating that acute financial stress compelled him to take such a drastic step. A case of unnatural death has been registered at Jadavpur police station and the bodies have been sent for post-mortem.

The incident occurred in Javapur's Chittaranjan Colony on Friday. It was learnt that the man recently lost his job and was facing a lot of difficulties in paying the exorbitant medical bills of his 57-year-old wife, who was suffering from cancer. The deceased man has been identified as Baidyanath Prasad and his wife Jolly Prasad. Police said Baidyanath strangled his wife to death with the help of a towel and then hanged himself to death from the ceiling of the room. Prima facie, it appears that the man killed his wife and committed suicide but the exact cause of death will be known only after getting the post-mortem report, police said.

Baidyanath, who worked as a driver in a private company had recently developed eye problems leading to vision loss. Following which, he lost his job. After which, it became extremely difficult for him to bear the household expenses along with the expenses of his wife's chemotherapy sessions, police said. While questioning neighbours, police found that the couple would often quarrel over financial matters and was in dire economic distress. A similar case had come to light in Chattisgarh five days back where a couple committed suicide before killing their two children due to financial stress.