In a tragic incident, an old couple of Charigaon village under the Nikiria police station in Kendrapada district on Wednesday night allegedly committed suicide due to abject poverty.
Police recovered the bodies of Sanatan Das (76) and his wife Hara Das (67) from a bush near the village grave yard, informed Nikirai PS IIC Kiran Hembram.
According to Hembram, Hara has been suffering from cancer for over five years. The couple’s lone son Kartik, who is working in a private company in West Bengal, had taken Hara to his workplace and spent a lot of money for her treatment. later, she came back to her villager with the advice from doctors that she needs treatment at regular intervals. But due to poverty, Hara failed to get proper treatment.
Hara and Sanatan might have decided to commit suicide after failing to bear expenses for treatment, police suspected.
Villagers broke open the couple’s door on Thursday morning as they did not respond to their calls. Failing to see the couple in the house, neighbours searched for them and, lastly, found them laying dead at a bush near the village crematorium.
Being informed, the Nikirai police recovered the bodies and registered an unnatural death case on the FIR of couple’s nephew Surendra Das, said the IIC.