KENDRAPARA: Crop loss over untimely rains claimed yet another life as a 57-year-old sharecropper allegedly died by suicide by consuming pesticide in Aul block of the district on Friday night. This is the tenth death due to crop damage in the state in about a fortnight.
The deceased, Kailash Chandra Dhal, belonged to Kolidiha village under Aul block. Dhal’s family found him lying unconscious near a bottle of pesticide in the morning and rushed him to Aul community health centre where doctors declared him dead.
Family members claimed Dhal took the extreme step as he was distraught over crop loss. They have filed an FIR at Aul police station in this connection. While no suicide note was recovered, police seized the body and sent it for postmortem. Additional district magistrate Nilu Mohapatra said Aul tehsildar has been directed to submit a report on the case.
