Married for 70 years, couple die minutes apart

November 20, 2012

hands

Chennai, November 20: They loved each other and lived together for long. And when they died, it was also almost together. Bagyalakshmi, 82, collapsed and died within minutes of hearing of the death of her husband Palayam, 91. The couple had married nearly seven decades ago when Bagyalakshmi was 12 and Palayam 21.

Palayam, who lived in Punnapakkam, a village near Poondi in Tiruvallur district, about 55km from Chennai, died suddenly on Sunday morning. Minutes later, when the news was passed on to Bagyalakshmi, who was in her son's house in a neighbouring village, she collapsed. She was taken to a private hospital where she was declared dead on arrival. Police said no case was registered as they were natural deaths.

Last week, sources said, the couple had celebrated Diwali at their son's house in Chinna Eakadu. While Bagyalakshmi stayed back, Palayam returned to their house in Punnapakkam to take care of the cattle and the farm.

On Monday, Bagyalakshmi's body was taken to Puunapkkam and kept beside her husband's. The villagers paid their homage. Later, the two were buried close to each other on their own land as per Palayam's wish.

Doctors are not able to explain such deaths of couples, but say when there is an extremely strong bond between couples for long years, each one finds it difficult to be without the other. Geriatrician Dr V S Natrajan said he had himself been witness to such instances. "There is rush of adrenaline when the elderly hear such news. The shock is too much for their aged hearts to bear and they die," he said.

In most cases, death may not occur the same day, but weeks or months later. "Even a perfectly healthy partner can become seriously ill after the death of his/her spouse. It's probably because health is not just about physical being.

It is also about mental and social wellbeing. Many couples may be too old to help each other with their daily chores, they may not be able to hear or see each other, yet they draw strength from their mere presence," said Natarajan.



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News Network
June 6,2020

Kota (Rajasthan), Jun 6: A 14-year-old boy allegedly hanged himself to death on early Saturday morning shortly after he stopped playing PUBG throughout the night and went to sleep, said police. 

Railway Colony police station’s in-charge Hansraj Meena said the boy, a class 9 student and son of an Army man, was found hanging from the grill of the ventilator in his bedroom on early Saturday morning. 

Meena said according to the boy’s family members, the boy had downloaded the gaming programme on his mother’s mobile phone only three days back but had been playing the game virtually continuously for the last three days. 

He kept on playing the game till 3 am in a room in which his brother was studying, said Meena, adding the boy went to adjoining to sleep after that. His body was found hanging from the ventilator’s grill in the morning, he said, adding the boy was rushed to MBS Hospital, where he was declared “brought dead”. 

No suicide note was recovered in the case, the SHO said. The boy lived in Gandhi Colony in the city along with his mother and brother, while his father, a Tamil Nadu native and Army man, is currently posted in Arunachal Pradesh. The boy’s body has been kept in hospital’s morgue for the postmortem, the SHO said.

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News Network
April 9,2020

Gonda, Apr 9: A man allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from the ceiling of his room as he was missing his wife stuck at her parents' place due to the lockdown, police said.

The incident took place in Radha Kund locality here on Wednesday, they said, adding the deceased has been identified as Rakesh Soni, 32.

As per information, Soni's wife had gone to her parents' place and was stuck there due to the lockdown and he was missing her due to which he committed suicide, Inspector Alok Rao said.

A probe is on in the mater, he said.

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Agencies
January 8,2020

Muzaffarpur, Jan 8: There is no evidence of murder of children in Bihar's Muzaffarpur shelter home, the CBI on Wednesday told the Supreme Court.

The probe agency told the apex court that two skeletons were recovered from the home's premises which were later, in forensic investigation, found to be of a woman and a man.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde accepted the status report of the CBI and allowed two officers to be relieved from the investigation team.

Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for the probe agency, said investigation was done on allegations of rape and sexual assault of children and charge sheets have been filed before the courts concerned.

Venugopal said the children, who were alleged to have been murdered, were later traced and found to be alive.

He said the CBI has investigated cases of 17 shelter homes in Bihar and charge sheets have been filed in 13 of them, while in four cases the preliminary inquiry was conducted and later closed as no evidence of any wrongdoing was found.

The probe agency, in its status report filed on Monday, said no incriminating evidence proving commission of any criminal offence could be gathered in four preliminary enquiries and as such no FIR has been registered.

The CBI had also said the Bihar government has been requested to take departmental action and action of cancellation of registration and blacklisting of concerned NGOs by providing them the result of investigation, i.e., the CBI report.

Several girls were allegedly sexually and physically assaulted at a shelter home run by an NGO in Bihar's Muzaffarpur. The issue had come to light following a report by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).

Following the report, a petition was filed in the apex court seeking lodging of an FIR and court-monitored probe by an independent agency into the allegations.

The plea filed by journalist Nivedita Jha through advocate Fauzia Shakil has sought "registration of FIR and independent investigations or court monitored probe into the affairs of these 14 (other) shelter homes in Bihar mentioned in the TISS report".

The apex court had directed the CBI to probe the offences under the Information Technology Act regarding the video recordings of the alleged assault on girls at the shelter home.

It had also directed the agency to investigate the role of "outsiders who were involved and facilitated the sexual assaults on the inmates", after administering them intoxicants and also against those who allegedly indulged in trafficking of girls from the shelter home.

The apex court had earlier directed the CBI to complete its probe into the alleged murder of 11 girls at the shelter home and asked it to file a status report.

The SC had transferred the case from Bihar to a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court in Saket District Court complex in Delhi.

Earlier, the top court had directed the CBI to conduct a probe into allegations of physical and sexual abuse of inmates in 16 other shelter homes in Bihar which were flagged in the TISS report.

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