A 52-year-old dairy farmer committed suicide by hanging himself at his dairy farm on Sunday evening at Era village under the Kendrapada Sadar police limits.
The deceased was identified as Rajendra Khuntia. He was mentally depressed following the bank authorities were pressurizing him to repay loan. Even he was threatened of auctioning off his house.
Kendrapada Sadar police station IIC Nilakantha Prasad Patra said Himanshu Khuntia, son of Rajendra, lodged an FIR alleging that his father had brought a sum of `12.60 lakh as loan from Bank of India in 2014-15 for setting up a dairy farm.
Though there was guideline to provide subsidy to the loanee, but the bank authorities denied to provide the subsidy and asked to provide a sum of `20,000 as bribe.
He alleged that his father suffered loss as the cattle were affected by various diseases and failed to get proper treatment. Subsequently, his father was forced to sell away the cattle. The Bank of India authority started threatening his father to repay loan and also harassed him. As a result, on Sunday afternoon, Rajendra after taking lunch went to the dairy farm and committed suicide by hanging himself, said Himanshu.
Meanwhile, police seized the body and sent it for autopsy. On Monday, the autopsy was conducted held at the District Headquarters Hospital and the body was cremated. Police registered an unnatural death case and were conducting an inquiry.