Six members of a family were found dead at their home in the southern Indian city of Madurai in an apparent suicide pact over debt, officials said on Monday, September 25, 2017.
Two more family members were rescued from their residence in a critical state late Sunday night and were being treated at hospital, administration official, Veera Rao said.
The family which ran a school, committed suicide by consuming poison and police found a suicide note that said they were under a huge loan default, Rao added.
The family, in the suicide note, asked authorities to sell their property to help settle the dues, according to the police.
Police were investigating if the family was under pressure from any private money lenders.
Madurai is notorious for unscrupulous money-lenders in spite a state-government ban and local media has reported on a number of cases of harassment by money-lenders.
India is one of the world’s most populated countries with one of the fastest growing economies in the world. However, there is an excruciating level of poverty in the country and the economic growth is not inclusive.
Barriers to exiting poverty are several. Two leading ones are poor education and a cast system that prevents social and income mobility. There are still people in generational slavery in the Asian country.
Additional reports by dpa/NAN
