Reeling under debt, elderly couple ends life in Odisha's Puri district

An elderly couple was found dead in their house at Anlajodi village under Kanas block of Puri district. The bodies were found hanging from their house on Sunday morning. The deceased have been identified as Banambar Behera and his wife Banita.

It is suspected that the couple took the extreme step after failing to repay the loan they had availed from a private finance company recently. On getting information, police rushed to the spot and rushed the couple to the hospital in Khordha. But they were declared dead by the doctors, sources said.

Two sons of the deceased couple informed that some staff of the company had visited their place yesterday. They had also abused and threatened their parents who ultimately committed suicide under pressure.

"I was in Bhubaneswar when my father called me yesterday and informed me that the company staff had visited their place and demanded money. I had told my father to clear the debts after visiting the village. But today, I learnt that both my parents have ended their lives," said Prashant Behera, son of the deceased couple.

Dhirendra Behera, ex-sarpanch said, "Most of the people in the village are farmers and they take loans from private finance companies. We learnt that seven to eight staff of the company had visited their house at around 6:30 pm and were inside till late night yesterday."

Behera further said that the company should have checked the background before issuing loan. In most cases, the staff of the finance companies is harassing the people here, he alleged.

Local residents alleged that the private finance companies are recovering the loan at 26 percent. We want the state government to put a check on such incidents, the villagers demanded.