Unable to repay his debts, father of 2 kills himself

Sons tell cops he hanged himself after being beaten

Burdened by heavy debts and troubled by moneylenders, a small-time property dealer in west Delhi’s Ranhola committed suicide at his home on Thursday.

His children have told police that he was roughed up by some moneylenders at his home in front of them just hours before he hanged himself from the ceiling fan.A senior police officer told Deccan Herald that they are investigating this allegation, but yet to find any evidence.

Angry locals, however, blocked the Nangloi Road on Thursday evening, forcing traffic jams in the region for a few hours before police assured them of action.Victim Kalyan Singh, 44, lived in Ranhola with his two sons.

His wife had passed away 14 years ago. Police said he had borrowed Rs 12 lakh from local moneylenders at a rate of interest to purchase a plot for construction purposes.“He was unable to pay off the money and the interest rate kept mounting. So the moneylenders were trying to retrieve their money from him,” said the officer.

That had already sent Singh into depression, but the worst happened on Thursday.Police have been told that a moneylender and his associate arrived at his home in the morning to ask for the money.

Singh expressed his inability to repay immediately upon which they allegedly assaulted him in front of his children. Singh retired to his room after they left.

When he did not emerge from his room for long, one of his sons checked on him late in the afternoon only to find him hanging from the fan.

Police were informed and the body brought down and sent to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital for a post-mortem.

No suicide note was found in his possession.Police said they have questioned the persons alleged to have manhandled Singh, but added that the initial probe does not confirm the assault.