Financial woes push 9 of family to poison themselves in Rajkot

RAJKOT: Nine members of a Rajkot family, including a minor, attempted suicide by drinking pesticide due to financial troubles. All were admitted to Rajkot Civil Hospital on Saturday and are said to be stable.
According to hospital sources, the family lives in the Gundawadi area. One of them dialled 108 for ambulance service in the morning after taking the poison.One of the family members, Ketan Adesara, told mediapersons at the hospital, "We are in the business of jewellery making and have been dealing with some traders in Mumbai. We gave four traders jewellery for which Rs 2.75 crore was to be paid. They have defaulted on the payment and thus we are in financial trouble. We had to borrow money from the market. They were threatening us and pressuring us not to approach the police."
According to the victims, they mixed pesticide with juice and drank it late on Friday night. They told mediapersons that they had trusted the Mumbai traders with goods on credit because they initially paid their dues regularly. After the default, the family was forced to borrow money, after which creditors began coming to their house demanding dues.
Police took an application of complaint from the family and began an investigation.