NEW DELHI, Aug 4: An extramarital affair with a childhood friend of her husband has cost the lives of four of her family members, including her two children, and landed them in jail in Sagar district in Madhya Pradesh.
The incident was of July 25 when four members of the family including her husband Manohar Lodhi (45), his mother Phoolrani (70), daughter Shivani (18), and his 16-year-old son committed mass suicide after the woman Draupadi refused to end her relationship with one Surendra, said to be a childhood friend of Manohar, and instead threatened to lodge fake dowry cases against her husband and mother-in-law, the police said.
The illicit affair was exposed by her daughter who saw her mother in a compromising position with Surendra. When the family kept objecting to their relationship, Draupadi threatened them with filing fake cases of dowry harassment.
Tired of the mental and societal pressure, Draupadi’s husband, his mother, and two children committed suicide by consuming overdose of sulpha tablets. While Draupadi’s mother-in-law and son died on the spot, Manohar and their daughter died while they were being taken to the hospital.
“As the girl and her father were in serious condition, they were referred to the Sagar district hospital. The girl died before she could be shifted, while her father breathed his last during transit in the ambulance,” on-duty doctor at Khurai Civil Hospital Varsha Kesharwani said.
Draupadi and Surendra have been sent to jail, officials said. “The investigation revealed that the illegal relationship between Manohar’s wife and her lover is the main reason behind this suicide. Both the accused were arrested and presented in the court, from where they have been sent to jail,” Town Inspector Yogendra Singh said.
(Subham Singh)
