Couple commit suicide in Khammam

Telangana: Saddled with crippling debts, a farmer couple allegedly committed suicide at Gollenapadu village in Wyra mandal. The police identified the deceased as K. Lakshminarayana, 62, and his wife Tarakamma, 55. The couple allegedly consumed pesticide at their house. Just before resorting to the drastic step, they reportedly had a heated argument over the means to deal with the mounting debts incurred by successive crop failures. Lakshminarayana died while undergoing treatment. Tarakamma succumbed to the lethal effect of the pesticide at a hospital in Wyra. Lakshminarayana took to cotton cultivation by borrowing loans from a bank and a private moneylender after retiring as a driver in the RTC a couple of years ago. The couple found themselves in a spiral of debt following repeated crop failures and unsuccessful attempts to deepen an open well and dig a new bore well in their agricultural land last year. The couple’s son is working as a soldier in the Indian Army unit in Assam. The Wyra police had registered a case and are investigating.