POST NEWS NETWORK
Angul, Nov 18: A 35-year-old share-cropper Ranjan Sahu committed suicide by hanging himself reportedly due to crop loss and debt burden at Rantalei village under Angul police limits Tuesday night.
Ranjan had taken two acre of land on lease for cultivation and had borrowed over Rs 3 lakh from various sources to raise crops. He took the extreme step due to his financial adversity with his creditors forcing him to pay back the loans. Police seized the body after a complaint was lodged by his widow Reeta Sahu and sent it for post-mortem.
On receiving a complaint from Reeta, the district administration rushed in a team to take stock of the situation. Additional tehsildar Rabi Narayan Acharya, Angul police station IIC Subhash Sahu, block agriculture officer Dillip Kumar Sahu and Panchmohalla revenue inspector Duryodhan Swain reached the spot and conducted a probe. Sub-collector Prasanna Kumar Das said further action will be taken on receipt of the probe report.
According to reports, Ranjan and Reeta have three daughters and a son. Ranjan earned his living by working as a mason. He later took up cultivation after he fell short of his earning to run his family. He took two acre of land on lease and borrowed over Rs 3 lakh from various self-help groups and other sources. He was pushed into distress after a self-help group asked him to pay back by November 22 and warned him of severe consequences if he failed to do so. The share-cropper was struggling hard to segment his income when the notice from the SHG came as a bolt from the blue.
This led Ranjan to a fight with Reeta following which she left for her parent’s house in Mushapapuli last week. Ranjan tried to bring back his wife and went to her parental house Tuesday. He was further plunged into distress after his wife refused to go back with him. Faced with the twin ordeal, he decided to end his life and hanged himself in the absence of his family members Tuesday night. PNN
