A farmer reportedly committed suicide by hanging himself for failing to repay his personal loans at Mohonpur upazila in Rajshahi on early Monday.
The deceased was identified as Akbar Ali Shah, 55, son of Lukman Ali of village Kharail under the upazila.
According to his eldest son, Suman Hossain Shah, Akbar Ali left home early in the morning — as he did every day – to look after their betel leaf field.
Sumon said that around 6:30am, he along with six workers went to the betel leaf field but did not find his father there.
‘After searching the area, we found my father hanging in a nearby betel leaf field. With the help of the workers, his body was brought back home,’ he said.
Ataur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Mohanpur Police Station, told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· that both Akbar Ali and his wife Selina Begum were involved with several NGOs and had taken out multiple loans.
‘The couple had to repay Tk 5000 of the loans every week, and they had been struggling to repay the installments — especially due to the declining price of betel leaves, which affected his income,’ he said, adding that this financial strain was believed to have caused significant mental distress, that led him to commit suicide.
The police official said that a case of unnatural death was filed with the police station and they had sent the body to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital morgue for post-mortem examinations.