Chennai: An elderly woman and her son ended their lives at Korattur here due to loss in business.
According to police, Amala John (60) and Joshua John (29) lived in Vanchi Nagar, Korattur.
Amala’s husband John separated from the family two years ago. He now works as a security guard at Montieth Road, Egmore and did not have contact with them.
Joshua, it is said, was running a chit fund business. Recently, he invested in shares which did not do well and eventually he lost his money. He disclosed his failure to Amala and the duo decided to end their lives as they knew that during Deepavali people would come and ask for their money.
Joshua had left behind a suicide note explaining why they decided to end their life. The family’s pet dog was found dead as well. In the letter Joshua wrote that the dog was poisoned as they felt no one else would take care of it after their death and their pet would be homeless.
The incident came to light when their neighbour Sophia noticed the house was in darkness for the whole day and she did not see Amala outside the house.
When she checked through the window she found the duo hanging and alerted the police.
Police who arrived at the spot saw them hanging from two fan hooks in the bedroom. The bodies were sent to Government Kilpauk Hospital for postmortem.
In the suicide letter, Joshua apologised to 274 people who were part of the chit fund as he lost their money. He mentioned in the suicide note that ‘the men who are greedy and women who are angry do not have a history of living well.’