A government teacher and his wife, burdened by debt and threatened by moneylenders, committed suicide on Tuesday in Sagar. They left behind a note naming the moneylenders who were charging 10% interest on loans.
Ramvilas Shukla (54), the teacher at Janakpur Primary School. He lived with his wife Vandana Shukla (48) in Kesli. On Tuesday, their bodies were found hanging in a house in Sironja, which they had sold a year ago but kept one room for themselves. The couple often stayed in this house.
Ramvilas was a follower of Baba Rampal from Haryana. The couple lost their only son 11 years ago and had no other children. The walls of their house were inscribed with Kabir's couplets.
Ramvilas was also involved in property dealing and got trapped in the illegal colonies of Sironja. He started buying and selling plots, but many deals failed, leading to financial losses and debt.
Civil Line Police Station In-Charge L L Uikey mentioned that the suicide note named Yogendra Rajput, Mahendra Singh, and Rajaram Gaur. Yogendra was charging 10% interest on loans. The couple was harassed by threats from these moneylenders, which led them to take this drastic step. The Civil Line police are investigating the case to gather more details.
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According to information by neighbours, on Monday morning, Ramvilas and Vandana left Kesli on a bike at 7:30 AM and reached their house in Sironja. The Neighbors saw them arrive.
When the family could not reach them by phone, they went to the house and found the back door open. They looked inside and saw Ramvilas and Vandana hanging from separate ropes. The police were then informed. The nylon ropes used for the hanging were new.
According to his elder brother Umashankar Shukla, Ramvilas was the youngest of six brothers and lived separately from the family in Kesli. Ramvilas never discussed his debts with the family and did not communicate much with them.
