KATHMANDU, MARCH 8

All five members of a family in Danda Pauwa of Nagarjun Municipality in Kathmandu, have attempted to commit suicide.

Of the family members ranging from 11 to 62 years of age, one has been declared dead while four others are in critical condition.

Those who attempted suicide includes the bread winner of the family Bhim Pradhan, 41, his mother Indramaya Pradhan, 62, wife Mandira Pradhan (Dangol), 34, and their daughter Subrina Pradhan,11. Bhim's nephew Subarnaman Pradhan, 33, died, while four others are receiving treatment at Manmohan Hospital in Kathmandu.

All the family members were residing at Dallu of Kathmandu in a rented house for the last four months. They were found lying unconscious in their room at 9:30pm yesterday.

Police said that they had attempted suicide due to 'financial burden' after they failed to return the money they had acquired from a local finance company.

Superintendent of Police Dinesh Raj Mainali of Metropolitan Police Range Kathmandu said a suicide note they found at the incident site suggests the family might have opted for group suicide after being unable to pay the loan. 'But the reason for the suicide can be ascertained only after post-mortem of the deceased and on the basis of the suicide note police retrieved from the incident site,' Mainali said.

Police have also retrieved empty files of four pesticides commonly used by farmers to kill germs in the field. Two files of 'Ratil', three files of 'Celphos', one file of 'Chakor' and two files of 'Sapphare' were retrieved from the crime scene. Police also retrieved five bottles where the poisonous drugs were kept after they were smashed into powder.

A source told THT that the suicide note written by Bhim Pradhan mentioned the name of British Gurkhali Saving & Credit Co-operative Ltd which tortured them to return the money even when they were facing extreme difficulty sustaining their lives. The suicide note also demanded action against the finance company and two persons for forcing them to commit suicide by meting out mental torture.

A version of this article appears in the print on March 9, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.