Political slugfest over mass suicide in Bihar's Samastipur

Patna: The mass suicide of five persons of a family in Bihar's Samastipur has triggered political war in the state.

Leader of the opposition in the Bihar Assembly, Tejashwi Yadav on Monday said, "All 5 members of a poor family in Samastipur died by suicide after suffering from poverty, hunger, financial crisis, inflation, unemployment and misery."

He said further, "This unfortunate incident is extremely painful and heart-wrenching. This is a slap and a black spot on the double engine government."

Reacting to it, CM Nitish Kumar said: "It was an extremely unfortunate incident that happened in Samastipur. We have directed the authority to investigate the matter immediately."

Hriday Kant, the SP of Samastipur said: "Preliminary investigation reveals that the victim Manoj Jha, 45, had taken a loan of Rs 3 lakh from various lenders and was unable to repay them."

Sources have said that the entire family was in distress over loans as the lenders were demanding money and humiliating them for not paying the instalments.

Apart from Manoj Jha, his wife Sundarmani Devi, 38, mother Sita Devi, 65, Satyam, 10, and Shivam, 7, were found hanging in the house located in ward 11 of Samastipur on Sunday morning.