Wrongly quarantined by family, man ends life

PUDUKKOTTAI: In a shocking case, a 35-year-old man under home isolation in Aranthangi allegedly committed suicide on Thursday. It’s not clear if the stress due to isolation or his financial distress led to the extreme step. While the family sent him to isolation thinking he had just returned from Maldives, where they believed he was working, it turns out that he had returned to Tamil Nadu way back, in January.

Due to financial issues, he did not inform his family about his return, but started working with a firm in Tirupur. Police say Kumar (name changed), returned to India on January 15. He landed in Chennai and straight went to Tirupur. There, he worked in a hosiery unit for two months.

Following the lockdown, he returned to his village, Maramadakki, on March 24. As he had not informed his family about his return from Maldives in January, his mother and family members assumed he arrived from abroad in March and isolated him in a separate house. His mother also wanted him to undergo a test for COVID-19. On Friday, they found him hanging from the ceiling.

According to a resident of the village, Kumar was working as a farm labourer in Pudukkottai for a long time. His family had taken a huge loan and sent him abroad to work. However, he had stopped sending money to his family for the past few months. So, when he came back from Maldives, he might have started working in Tirupur. 

9 more cases in TN
Nine more tested positive for COVID-19 in the State on Friday, taking the total tally to 38. Meanwhile, a 21-yr-old man hospitalised in Chennai was cured and discharged |