Kerala: Twin brothers under financial stress found hanging at home in Kottayam

KOTTAYAM: Financial liabilities and failure in repaying bank loans due to the pandemic are suspected to have forced twin brothers here to end their lives.
Nisar Khan and twin brother Naseer, 34, sons of Abdul Salam, were found hanging by their mother Fathima in their house at Kaduvakkulam in Panachikkad panchayat near here on Monday morning. Local residents then alerted the police.Inquest was done after conducting Covid tests. The bodies were shifted to the Government Medical College hospital for autopsy.
On Sunday night, after watching TV along with their mother, both went to bed in two different rooms and were found dead in the two rooms the next morning.
Both were without jobs due to the pandemic for the last one year. They had worked in a crane servicing agency which was shut down during the pandemic. Local residents told police that the brothers were disturbed by the financial crisis due to unemployment.
The brothers had taken a bank loan of Rs 13 lakh, and had to repay over 17 lakh that included the interest. The staff of Kottayam Co-operative Urban Bank served a notice regarding non-repayment of bank loan last week.
According to neighbours, after receiving the notice, the mother and sons rarely came out of the house.
The brothers had taken the loan from Manippuzha branch of the bank on May 2, 2019, to buy two small houses in Kaduvakkulam. An amount of Rs 19,000 was repaid but they were unable to repay the remaining loan. According to bank officials, the brothers did not respond to their phone calls regarding the loan repayment. Subsequently, bank staff visited their house.
Fathima said that the bank officials had threatened to serve notice for attachment of property. The brothers had informed the bank that the loan would be repaid after disposing of a property belonging to their sister in Palakkad. However, this move did not materialize.