A middle aged woman and her two children committed suicide by setting off an explosion using their LPG gas cylinder as they could not raise enough money to perform the funeral rites of her daughter, who died of jaundice.
Sources said, Ms. Rajarathnam's daughter Bhavani was suffering from jaundice and had been admitted to a private hospital in Raja Annamalai Puram, where she breathed her last on Tuesday evening. Her body was brought back home in Krishna Nagar in Tambaram.
Police said, Radhakrishnan (69) had been the sole breadwinner of the family. He had left the house that morning to raise money to perform the funeral rites. Soon after, neighbours noticed smoke emanating from the house, followed by a huge blast. Ms. Rajarathnam had apparently poured kerosene on the body of her teenage son Ganapathy, her 21-year-old daughter Meenakshi, the corpse and herself. She then opened the LPG gas cylinder and lit a match, setting off the explosion, according to the police. Tambaram police and District Fire Services officer Priya Ravichandran and her team rushed to the scene and put out the fire. Ms. Rajarathnam's body was unearthed under the rubble. Meenakshi and Ganapathy were rushed to the Kilpauk Government Hospital. While, Meenakshi died on the way to hospital, Ganapathy succumbed to his injuries later in the hospital. The Tambaram police has registered a case.
A middle- aged woman and her two children committed suicide by setting off an explosion using their LPG gas cylinder as they could not raise enough money to perform the funeral rites of her daughter, who died of jaun- dice. Sources said, Ms. Rajarathnam's daughter Bhavani was suffering from jaundice and had been admitted to a private hospital in Raja Annamalai Puram, where she breathed her last on Tuesday evening. Her body was brought back home in Krishna Nagar in Tambaram. Police said, Radhakrishnan (69) had been the sole bread- winner of the family. He had left the house that morning to raise money to perform the funeral rites. Soon after, neighbours noticed smoke emanating from the house, followed by a huge blast. Ms. Rajarathnam had appar- ently poured kerosene on the body of her teenage son Ganapathy, her 21-year-old daughter Meenakshi, the corpse and herself. She then opened the LPG gas cylinder and lit a match, setting off the explosion, according to the police. Tambaram police and District Fire Services officer Priya Ravichandran and her team rushed to the scene and put out the fire. Ms. Rajarathnam's body was unearthed under the rubble. Meenakshi and Ganapathy were rushed to the Kilpauk Government Hospital. While, Meenakshi died on the way to hospital, Ganapathy succumbed to his injuries later in the hospital. The Tambaram police has registered a case.