Doctor family made suicide pact nine months before

Bangalore Mirror

Bangalore, 30 December 2011:   The debt-ridden doctor family’s decision to commit suicide in their Chamarajpet clinic on December 2 was not a sudden choice. Police investigating the case have found that Dr Mohammed Amanulla and his family had in fact made the suicide pact nine months earlier.

 

During investigation, police came across this entry dated March 7 in the diary of Dr Amanulla’s wife Dr Naveeda Bhanu: “I can’t forget this day as the whole of my family has decided to commit suicide. Allah, I pray to protect all of us.”

 

A police officer investigating the case said, from that day the family had been postponing the suicide hoping against hope, to come out of debt trap. However, after a nine-month struggle, they gave up and killed themselves. The officer added, “It would have been a traumatic experience for the family to have lived with the fact that they were getting ready to kill themselves. It’s a very tragic tale. They seemed to have had hopes of breaking free from the debt trap. If somebody had helped them in that period, the whole family would have been alive.”

Dr Amanulla, his wife and sons  Ehtesham Rasheed and Afam Rasheed, were found dead in their clinic-cum-residence ‘Khuda Care Nursing Home’ in Valmikinagar in Chamarajpet. The family of doctors injected themselves with lethal doses of an anesthetic. Initial investigations did not find any suicide note. Their suicide left the neighbours and patients baffled how a doctor with a philanthropic bent of mind took such an extreme step.

 

The police have also discovered a sorry story of financial distress in the family. Dr Amanulla had sold his house, jewellery and properties to repay loans. The doctor family had not paid rent for the last six months. They were so cash-strapped that they had not paid college fees of their second son, who was studying MBBS. The family desperately wanted the elder son, also a doctor, to get a better job.  

 

According to police, the family had borrowed loans worth Rs 1.71 crore. Their inability to repay had raised their debts to Rs 3 crore. Their first loan was for Rs 25 lakh from Mahila Cooperative Bank in Sheshadripuram. The long list of loans included a loan of Rs 5.84 from another cooperative bank, a gold loan of Rs 6.80 lakh and many personal loans from friends, totalling to Rs 30 lakh.

 

After going through several documents, receipts and questioning the family’s friends, police have concluded that a lavish lifestyle and frequent trips abroad pushed the family into debt.