Mother, two sons suffer burns in suicide attempt

MADURAI: Three persons, including a woman and her two children suffered burns near Kalakad in Tirunelveli district while attempting to commit suicide. The incident occurred in a house located at Moongiladi on Tuesday night.

The injured victims have been identified as Balarevathi (38) and her sons –Sridharan (12) and Rishidharan (11), sources said.

Kalakad police inspected the spot and held enquiries. Investigations revealed that there were some domestic problems between the victim Balarevathi and her husband Ramesh Balan, who was employed abroad. Balarevathi was often subjected to harassment whenever her husband Balan used to talk with her over phone.

Similarly, a few minutes ahead of the incident, Balarevathi got irked over phone communication with him and subsequently took this extreme decision. Balarevathi was said to have opened the regulator valve of an LPG cylinder in the house with intent to end her life and kill her two sons.

After opening the cylinder, she set fire and it caught on her body and spread to catch fire on her two sons, who were asleep. Fire brigades from Nanguneri Station Fire Office rushed to the spot after a ‘fire call’ and extinguished it before rescuing the victims, who were taken to Tirunelveli Government Medical College Hospital, sources said.

Tirunelveli Superintendent of Police P Saravanan said the victims suffered about 40 per cent burns to their bodies and are conscious after being hospitalised. Based on a complaint, Kalakad police have filed a case.