A 33-year-old man died and four of his family members, including his mother, were battling for their lives on Wednesday in Odisha’s Jharsuguda district after they allegedly tried to commit suicide following the death of one of the sons, police said.
Officials said Srikanta Biswal was among the five members of his family who drank phenyl on Tuesday.
Srikanta Biswal, his 55-year-old mother and three sisters in the age group of 30 to 38 years from Lahandabud under BTM police station area of Jharsuguda district were admitted to the district headquarters hospital on Tuesday morning in critical condition.
One of the deceased youth’s sisters, who first tried hanging herself before drinking phenyl, was shifted to Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Hospital after her condition worsened.
Suchismita Mohanty, the inspector of BTM police station, said the five people were traumatised after 22-year-old Dipak Biswal succumbed to his injuries in a nursing home on Monday, two years after he met with a road accident.
“The family’s head Golak Bihari Biswal, an employee of PSU Mahanadi Coalfields Limited, had also died after retiring from service in 2016. After the accident involving Dipak in 2018, the family had spent over Rs 30 lakh on his treatment but there was very little recovery. On Monday, he was admitted to a nursing home after his condition deteriorated but he passed away,” Mohanty said.
One of the members of Biswal family, who too attempted suicide, told the police that they were very close and could not bear the thought of losing their brother.
“When my brother died last evening we decided to die along with him and consumed phenyl and herbicides,” she said.
