Quarrelsome parents drive 14-year-old to suicide

Frustrated by frequent tiffs between his parents, a class eleven student immolated himself in Mangadu. The boy succumbed to burns at the hospital on Sunday night.

Police said Krishnamurthy (14) of Sekar Avenue in Mugalivakkam, a student of a government school in Saidapet, was the only son to his parents. His father Vijay Kumar, a tea vendor, used to pick up quarrels frequently with his mother, after returning home drunk. Krishnamurthy had tried his best to stop his parents fighting, police said.  “He felt ashamed as his neighbours and friends knew that his father would come home drunk and beat up his mother almost everyday. He had tried his best telling his parents to stop it, but the quarrels continued,” said a police official, adding that at school, the boy was an average student. On October 3, his parents had quarrelled as usual. The frustrated boy then ran inside the house, doused himself with a can of kerosene and immolated himself, police said.

He was rushed to a private hospital in Porur, from where he was referred to the KMCH. On Sunday, he succumbed at the hospital. Mangadu police have registered a case.

Two Houses Burgled

Burglars escaped with valuables from two locked houses at Villivakkam after reportedly diverting police attention to another house on Saturday night. Police sources said burglars first broke into the house of one Raja (35), a railway staff, on Thevar Street. The house was locked and neighbours were alerted after they heard some noise when the burglars were attempting to break the lock. The neighbours alerted the police immediately. Hearing police approach the house, the burglars scattered the items in the house and escaped, police sources said.

Even as police began inspecting the house, the burglars stealthily broke the locks of two houses belonging to Rajagopal and Rangarajan on the nearby East Mada Street and escaped with 1.5 kg of silver, five sovereigns gold and `10,000 cash, police sources said.

Fire in House

A case of accidental fire was registered by R K Nagar police after a fire broke out in a locked house belonging  to Basha (32), on Monday. News spread in the neighbourhood that a burglar had gained entry into the house, stolen valuables and set fire to items inside. But, police denied it and said that the cause of fire was an electrical short circuit and that no valuables were stolen.