Berhampur: Farmers Laxmi Barad, 32, died and her husband Kabiraj Barad, 38, continued to be critical late on Sunday after they consumed poison at Sundarapalli village in Ganjam district, about 60km from here. Crop loss and loan burden are suspected to have driven the couple to take the extreme step.
Relatives of the couple rushed them first to Aska Community Health Centre where doctors declared Laxmi dead on Sunday evening. Later, Kabiraj was shifted to MKCG Medical College and Hospital, Berhampur, and again to SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack, when his health condition deteriorated, a family member said.
"We work as sharecroppers and daily labourers. All vegetables cultivated on the farm land were damaged by unseasonal rains. But I had no clue about the loans they had taken," said Narayan Barad, Kabiraj's father.
Aska sub-divisional police officer Subash Chandra Panda said preliminary investigations had revealed that the couple had an argument before they consumed poison. He said: "We have registered an unnatural death case at Dharakote police station and sent the body of Laxmi Barad for post-mortem to Aska Hospital."
Married 15 years ago, the couple have two sons and a daughter, all of them enrolled in the local primary school.