The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : 84-year-old man commits suicide

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 08, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

84-year-old man commits suicide

Special Correspondent

He had preserved Gandhi’s autographed paper for 70 years

Victim had poured kerosene, set himself ablaze
Paper is kept in the government museum

TAMBARAM: An 84-year-old man, who had preserved a piece of paper autographed by Mahatma Gandhi for over 70 years, committed suicide at his house in Hasthinapuram, Chromepet, on Monday.

The Chitlapakkam police said Seethapathy Naidu poured kerosene and set himself ablaze around 7 a.m. He sustained 85 per cent burn injuries and was hospitalised, but succumbed to injuries later in the evening.

A native of Nagapattinam district, he was living in one of his son’s house. He was under the care of his daughter-in-law, as his son was away in Dubai for his job.

Seethapathy Naidu belonged to a wealthy agricultural family in Nagapattinam. On February 2, 1938, Mahatma Gandhi visited Nagapattinam as part of a nation-wide tour to mobilise funds to be distributed as relief for the people of Bihar who suffered acutely due to a natural calamity then.

Helped by his father, he climbed up the stage and handed over Rs.5 note to Mahatma Gandhi. Impressed, Mahatma Gandhi pulled out a piece of paper, wrote his name in Hindi and with help, in Tamil, and handed it over Seethapathy, who was 14 years old then. He had carefully preserved it and even kept it inside a silver box.

Debts

Over the years, the family ran into bad debts and Seethapathy was forced to sell the box.

However, Seethapathy managed to keep the paper autographed by Mahatma Gandhi. Concerned over what would happen to the paper, he approached social workers of Chromepet who helped in getting assistance from the State government. And in a simple function in May this year, the paper was kept in the government museum in Chennai.

The Chitlapakkam police are investigating the motive behind the suicide. They said the victim had taken a plastic stool outside the house, sat on it in the garden and set himself on fire.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu