Thyagarajan’s helpless family borrows money for his funeral

Family members of a father of four in Matugama who committed suicide after he could not bear to see his hungry children in tears have had to borrow the 17,500 needed for his funeral at 20% interest, a family member said.

The body of the deceased Thyagarajan could not be taken to his home as he was found to be Covid positive and his mother  P. Rukmini said that they had to borrow the money required at 20 percent interest to pay the undertakers for the funeral.

“My son had committed suicide as he was unable to watch his children crying in hunger. We didn’t have a cent at home for his funeral,” she said while crying at the Nagoda Hospital.

A father of four, Thyagarajan Ranjan, a resident of Ranavijayagama, Welipenna, Matugama, had hanged himself on the 26th of this month unable to watch his children crying in starvation. He was found to be Covid positive.

Manjula Devi, the wife of the late Thyagarajan Ranjan, and her family members, including her mother and younger brothers were present to receive the body, but were not allowed to do so after learning that Ranjan was infected with the Covid-19 virus.

Therefore, they had to pay 17,500 to a funeral parlour in Nagoda and were helpless with no money in hand. Later, Ranjan’s mother P.Rukmani had seen her son’s wife weeping near the mortuary helplessly and had borrowed the money on interest to pay for her son’s funeral.

The funeral was held at the Matugama, Panthiya Cemetary yesterday afternoon (01) adhering to all health regulations.