Bhutnath’s wife Atanti mourns his death. (Kajal Kumar Bhattacharjee)

Burdwan, Jan. 28: A debt-ridden farmer in Burdwan’s Ketugram committed suicide apparently after failing to arrange for the money required for his daughter’s delivery.

Bhutnath Pal was found hanging from a tree 50 metres from his home last evening.

Family members said Bhutnath, a marginal farmer, had a debt of about Rs 60,000 accumulated since 2009. He is the eighth farmer to have killed himself in Burdwan in the past six months.

His younger brother Raghunath said Bhutnath was “depressed” ever since his elder daughter came to stay with him for childbirth.

“The doctor had told my brother that Baisakhi might need a Caesarean section. But dada had no money. He had a debt of Rs 60,000. He had borrowed money from banks and pesticide and fertiliser dealers. He had also borrowed from moneylenders for his daughter’s wedding a year ago,” Raghunath said.

“He had also lost his boro paddy in a flash flood in April last year. Although he sold most of his produce this year, the owner of the rice mill gave him a post-dated cheque that cannot be encashed before the end of February. This added to his tension,” Raghunath, 48, said.

“As he could not repay his debts, no one agreed to give him fresh loans. He often told me that he was worried about his daughter,” he added.

Tarak Pal, a relative, said: “He (Bhutnath) stepped out of his house last evening, telling his wife that he would return soon. But he did not come back.”

Rice mill owners in the area said many of them were being forced to issue post-dated cheques because of lack of funds. “Many of us are yet to get full payment for the rice we sold to the government last year,” said Subrata Mondal, the secretary of the Burdwan chapter of the West Bengal Rice Mill Owners’ Association.

District magistrate .S. Meena said preliminary investigations had revealed that the farmer was facing financial difficulties. “The block development officer of Ketugram visited his house and will submit a report to me. He had a pregnant daughter and was worried about her.”

Law minister Malay Ghatak shrugged off allegations that farmers were killing themselves after failing to get the minimum support price for paddy. “People commit suicide for various reasons every day. All those who are committing suicide are not farmers,” said Ghatak, who had faced farmers’ ire yesterday on paddy prices.