A 45 years old farmer, a father of five daughters and a son, committed suicide after he suffered loss reportedly due to the extended lockdown during which he was unable to sell cucumbers he had grown on rented land in a village in Ahmedabad.
This is said to be the second case of farmers' suicide in the ongoing lockdown for containing coronavirus pandemic. A day before, an onion grower had ended his life in Bhavnagar.
The latest case was reported at Sola police station in Ahmedabad where a farmer Ganpatbhai H Dantani, a resident of Sola Gam allegedly hanged himself at his house. Police record states that he hanged himself while his family was sleeping sometime on May 13 midnight. He was rushed to Sola civil hospital where he was declared dead. Sola police inspector J P Jadeja confirmed DH that “A case of accidental death (suicide) has been registered.”
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During the investigation, Dantani's wife Saroj told the police that he was into cucumber farming. He had taken lands on rent in the vicinity and used to sell the produce near Satyam Mall. She also said, as mentioned in the police report, that “Due to lockdown, Dantani was unable to sell cucumbers for a very long time while his debt kept increasing.”