Bengaluru: Couple ends life over friend’s harassment

BENGALURU: A retired BEML employee and his wife committed suicide by consuming toilet-cleaning acid in their Basaveshwaranagar residence late Thursday night. They’d fought frequently over the man’s objection to his wife’s proximity to a family friend. Basaveshwaranagar police said Mohan Kumar, 60, who retired a few months ago, and wife Nirmala, 55, were found dead by their son Kiran, who came to see them on Friday morning.
Police said Nirmala left behind a suicide note in Tamil wherein she explained the reason for the extreme step. “Nirmala claimed she had a close friendship with a man called Manohar. She alleged that Manohar had affairs with several women and recently he demanded she introduce him to her relative. She declined and he began harassing her. She discussed it with her husband and this led to fights. They decided to kill themselves,” a police officer said. Cops have registered a case of abetment to commit suicide against Manohar but are yet to get more details about him.
On Friday morning, Kiran, who stays with his wife on the same street, went to meet his parents and found the door locked from inside. When repeated knocks did not elicit a response, he brought a spare key and opened the door. He found his mother lying dead in the hall, while his father’s body was in the bedroom. He had spoken to his parents last on Thursday night, police said.