Three farmers commit suicide in draught-hit Marathwada region

Latur: Reeling under financial distress, three farmers on Tuesday allegedly committed suicide in different parts of Latur district in draught-hit Marathwada region of Maharashtra, police said.

With this, the number of farmers who committed suicide in the district in the last nine days has gone up to seven.

Two of these cases were registered at Nilanga police station.

Fifty-year-old Balu Mamale of Umarga (Hadga) village hanged himself as he could not repay the loan taken from a private lender. He was also worried about raising funds for the marriage of his three daughters, police said.

Govind Kawle (40) of Ambulga Budruk village hanged himself from a tree in his farm. He had taken a loan of around Rs 2.50 lakh to marry off his daughter, but was unable to repay it.

"Both the farmers took the extreme step as they were depressed over crop failure and indebtedness," Audumbar Shidgar, Police Inspector at Nilanga police station, told PTI.

In the third case, Bhairavnath Deshmukh from Kanadi Borgaon village, located around 35 kms from here, consumed pesticide, following which he was admitted to Latur civil hospital, where he died during treatment, a police officer said.

Deshmukh had taken a bank loan of Rs four lakh from a bank, but was unable to repay it, he added.