Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh:
From the drought-hit Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh, comes an all too familiar story of despair and desperation. After allegedly being harassed by a money-lender for two months, a 35-year-old farmer, Jairam Singh jumped to his death before a speeding goods train last week.
Jairam's family says he had returned the Rs 65,000 that he had borrowed from the money-lender and wanted the two bigha land that he had mortgaged back. When the money-lender allegedly refused to return the mortgage papers, a desperate Jairam committed suicide. He left behind a suicide note.
Dinesh Chandra, Superintendent of Police (Rural) says, "He did leave behind a note which gives us evidence to book the lender for abetment to suicide." But a week on, the police have still not managed to arrest the money lender.
Jairam had borrowed the money for his brother's surgery for burn injuries. His family says he made repeated attempts to get back his land, but to no avail. "He was really upset because he didn't know how to get the land back," says Jairam's brother Meherban Singh.
The family says the final straw was when Jairam was abused and physically thrown out of the money-lender's house when he went there to try and get back the mortgage papers.