A man died after attempting suicide in protest against the disconnection of electricity to his house. The deceased is Sanal, a native of Peringadavila, Neyyattinkara.
On Tuesday, Sanal set himself on fire. He succumbed to injuries while undergoing treatment at Thiruvananthapuram Medical College. He attempted suicide alleging that KSEB has disconnected his connection following the intervention of the panchayat president.
On Tuesday, KSEB officials reached Sanal's house to disconnect power connection due to non-payment of bills. Sanal was not at home and his wife informed the officials that they will pay the pending bills on Tuesday itself. His family alleges that the officials left the house, but, returned following the intervention of the panchayat president.
It is alleged that Surendran, the panchayat president, took revenge on Sanal who had contested the LSG polls as a UDF rebel candidate by influencing the KSEB officials. However, Surendran dismissed the claims as baseless.
Meanwhile, according to the KSEB authority, they disconnected the power due to the non-payment of bills. They even disconnected the power to over 10 houses in the region.
This is not the first case of a person committing suicide due to alleged harassment by government departments. On December 22, Rajan and Ambili, who was residing near Nettathottam colony in Pongil attempted to set themselves on fire when the Lawyer’s Commission and police tried to evict them from their house based on a court order.
Aiming to deter the cops, Rajan held Ambili close to him and poured petrol over the both of them. When the police tried to foil the suicide threat, the fire from the lighter in Rajan’s hand spread all over the couple, and they suffered severe burn injuries. However, the couple succumbed to injuries at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College. The couple was survived by sons, Rahul and Ranjith.
