Gujarat: Farmer killed himself due to debts, crop loss, say police

On Tuesday, heavy rain lashed several areas of Surat, Valsad and Navsari districts in South Gujarat. On Wednesday when Ajay when to his farm, he found the paddy crop that was ready for harvest was totally damaged.

On Thursday, Patel left home in his car and made a phone call to his elder brother Dinesh Patel at 3am, informing him that he had debts of around Rs 3.91 lakh, including bank loan, credit card installments and money borrowed for farming from friends.

Ajay requested his Dinesh to pay the debts and asked not to search for him. He also mentioned about a list he left in the car that had names and amount of money he borrowed.

After the conversation, Ajay switched off his phone. His family members carried out search but could not find Ajay. Later, Dinesh received a call from a relative in the neighbouring Polad Bhairavi village in Khergam taluka saying he saw Ajay’s car on the Auranga river bridge near his village.

Dinesh Patel alongwith other relatives reached the spot and informed the Dharampur fire department and Khergam police. Dinesh recovered the list Ajay left behind in the car and handed it over to the police. Fire personnel, alongwith local divers carried out a search operation in the river and recovered Ajay’s body by afternoon from near Nandhai village.

Khergam police sub-inspector KJ Bhoye said, “We have sent the body of Ajay Patel to government hospital for postmortem. The deceased who stayed with his wife and children had borrowed Rs 3.91 lakh. And the crop that was ready to harvest got damaged. He was unable to pay the debt and would have taken the extreme step due to this.”

The deceased elder brother Dinesh Patel, said, “He was facing financial crises as he had taken loans from different persons and banks. Due to crop failure, he was tensed and it might have driven him to such a step. He called me at night and informed me about his debts, and also requested us (brothers) to repay the loan. He was planning to pay off the the debts after selling the paddy.”