TN: 16 kill themselves over Jaya’s conviction

Police tight-lipped on suicides 

BY S VENKAT NARAYAN Our Special Correspondent-September 29, 2014, 

NEW DELHI, September 29: At least 16 persons are believed to have committed suicide either by setting themselves ablaze or by hanging across Tamil Nadu since Saturday, when ruling AIADMK supremo Jayaram Jayalalithaa was sentenced to a four-year jail term in a disproportionate assets case by a Special Court in Bangalore.

Jayalalithaa also ceased to be the state’s chief minister with immediate effect. She has been lodged in the Bangalore Central Jail since Saturday. Her loyal aide Pannerselvam was sworn in as chief minister on Monday.

Police said in Chennai that an AIADMK worker S. Venkatesan (65) had died in hospital after setting himself on fire; three others hanged themselves and another had jumped before a speeding bus.

Ten persons are believed to have suffered cardiac arrests, apparently unable to come to terms with the verdict, while one person died of shock, they said.

Those who allegedly committed suicide also included two Class XII students who set themselves ablaze in Tirupur.

Police were tight-lipped on the number of such incidents across the state and claimed that some could be due to personal problems.