Kerala Man Dies By Suicide After Bank Refuses To Return His Deposit: Cops

A 52-year-old man who consumed poison recently after a cooperative bank here allegedly refused to return his deposit has died, the police said here on Thursday.

Police said Maruthathoor resident Somasagaram, who was hospitalised since April 19 after he consumed poison, died at a hospital here yesterday Launching an investigation into the incident, the police said inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Proceedings (CrPC) have been initiated.

According to the FIR, the Perumpazhuthoor cooperative bank authorities refused to return his deposit of Rs five lakh despite multiple requests.

The FIR states that he was depressed as he sought money for the marriage expenses of his daughter and consumed poison on April 19.

He died on Wednesday night.

His 86-year-old father told the media that his son had deposited some hard-earned money in the bank.

"He has been asking the bank for the past six months to return the deposit, but they refused. Finally, they started threatening him. He took the extreme step because of the bank's attitude," his father said.

Meanwhile, the bank authorities told the media that there was a financial crunch and that it was unable to honour the requests of the customers for their deposits as there was a delay in the recovery of loans.

The authorities claimed that they had returned the money of some customers who insisted.

They also added that after his suicide attempt, the bank had agreed to return the deposit by June 30.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)