Bargarh: A young farmer of Podhamunda near Beeramal under Bargarh Sadar police limits, identified as Baishnab Bhue, committed suicide by consuming pesticide Wednesday night.
Baishnab’s father Meenakatan said his son had taken farm loan. But he was upset over the elusive rain in the district and feared he would not be able to produce crops and repay his debts. This frustration prompted
Baishnab to take the extreme step. A police complaint has been filed in this regard.
Baishnab Bhue, 27, was the second of five siblings in the family of farmers. The family has a three-acre land. They also raise crops on another acre as sharecroppers.
The farmer had cultivated brinjal, bitter gourd and a few other vegetables on 50 decimal land while his brothers had sown paddy seeds. The family depends on rain and irrigation for cultivation.
Meenaketan said they had sown paddy and the seedlings withered due to lack of rain. Their vegetable crop also suffered the same fate. The family had taken loans of about `2 lakh for cultivation.
Baishnab was under severe mental stress owing to loss of crops and loan burden. Ultimately, he took the extreme step Wednesday night, the family members said.
They said Baishnab went out of their house at about 9 pm on the pretext of watering the crops. When he did not return past midnight, the family members grew apprehensive and launched a search for him.
Later on, Baishnab was found lying in a farm land. A tin of pesticide was also found near him. He was rushed to the Bargarh district headquarters hospital where the doctors declared him brought dead.
On being informed, police reached the hospital. Registering a case of unnatural death, they handed over the body after autopsy.
The suicide at the initial stages of cultivation has become the talk of the town.
“Prima facie it appears to be a case of suicide, but the post-mortem report can only confirm it,” said the police.