“Take A Bowl, Beg”: Harassed By Children For Property, Couple Dies By Suicide

A 70-year-old man and his wife allegedly died by suicide by jumping into the water tank of their home in Rajasthan and left a note pasted on a wall listing the alleged atrocities committed against them by their own children, who wanted to grab their property, police said. 

The note said that not only did the couple’s sons and their daughters-in-law beat them up on at least five occasions, but they also threatened to kill them and stopped giving them food, asking their mother to “take a bowl and beg”.

Hazariram Bishnoi, 70, and his 68-year-old wife Chawali Devi lived in Rajasthan’s Nagaur and their bodies were recovered from a water tank inside their home in Karni Colony on Thursday. The couple had four children – two sons and two daughters – and, in their two-page suicide note stuck on a wall of their home, they wrote that one of their sons, Rajendra, thrashed them thrice while the other, Sunil, did so twice. 

They also said that their sons and daughters warned them to not speak up or lodge any complaint or they would kill them in their sleep.

The note names Rajendra and his wife Roshni; Sunil, his wife Anita and son Pranav; and the couple’s daughters Manju and Sunita, as well as a few relatives. The couple said their children wanted all the property that was in their name and the relatives had prodded them to achieve that by any means necessary. 

The children, the note said, had already managed to get the ownership of three plots and a car transferred by cheating the couple and quarrelling with them. It details the sale of the car that was transferred in the name of Rajendra, Manju and Sunita and the transfer of a house in Karni Colony by Sunil and his wife Anita. 

Not Given Even Food

Having taken all this from them, the children allegedly refused to give the couple any food and would abuse them over the phone every day. The note said that their son Sunil called them and said, “Take a bowl, beg for food. I will not give you food. If you tell anyone, I will kill you.”

Nagaur Superintendent of Police Narayan Togas said they received information on Thursday that no movement had been seen in the house of Hazariram and Chawali and when they searched the compound, they found the bodies in the tank.

“The key of the house was found in Hazariram’s pocket and a forensic team has collected evidence. We are trying to find the video recording of a CCTV camera inside the house and the bodies have been sent for a post-mortem. A suicide note has been recovered,” said Mr Togas.

On Monday, Sunil had submitted a memorandum to the Nagaur Superintendent and the administration and said his parents had talked about implicating the children in a suicide case. Officials said they suspect that the couple died on Tuesday and are “investigating all angles”.