Poverty-stricken man jumps into well with son in Odisha

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Banarpal (Angul), Feb 24:

The people of Budhapanka village of Banarpal block in Odisha’s Angul district have been left speechless at the tragic death of a man and his minor son, who committed suicide after jumping into the well late on Sunday night.

The bodies, identified as those of Gokulananda Guru (45) and his son Seta, were recovered from the well by fire tenders the next morning.

Talking to the media, Rabi Guru, the grief-stricken father of Gokulananda, said his son decided to take the extreme step as he was unable to look after his family.

According to reports, Gokulananda was living with his wife Babita, his four children including a son, his old parents and an unmarried sister, at Nuasahi of Budhapanka village.

While Gokulananda was a daily wage labourer by profession, his wife worked as a cook at an anganwadi centre near the village. The family barely managed to survive with the meagre income.

However, misfortune struck the family after Babita left the house about one-and-half year ago. Though Gokulananda lodged a complaint with the police, the latter failed to trace her.

In the absence of his wife, it became extremely difficult for Gokulananda to run his family. Due to severe mental stress, he became disabled later.

His old mother Labangi began begging from her neighbours in a desperate struggle for survival.

Despite this, there was no end to the misery as the old age pension of Labangi and her husband and the disabled pension of Gokulananda was not enough to take care of the needs of the family.

Narrating the incident, the hapless mother said Gokulananda had gone to sleep with his son and a daughter in the night. When she woke up late in the night, she found her granddaughter sleeping beside her.

She called up her neighbours when she went to the room and found his son and grandson missing. After a frantic search, the bodies of the duo were found floating inside a well.

Following information, police arrived at the spot with a fire tender the next day and recovered the bodies from the well.

The bodies were later taken for post mortem.