A family’s 17-year-long battle with public sector unit Bhilai Steel Plant ended in a tragedy at Bhilai, nearly 35 km from here, late on Monday night, when all the members of the family decided to commit suicide en masse by consuming poison.
While 60-year-old Moni Devi and her three grown-up daughters — Rekha, Sheela and Shobha — died, her son Sunil Gupta (35) was battling for his life in the BSP hospital at Bhilai, nearly 35 km from here.
The family of the former official of BSP had been demanding a job for one of them on compassionate grounds following death of its lone bread-earner M.L. Shah, on December 4, 1994. Shah was a deputy manager at the steel plant.
The family members allegedly took extreme step when the BSP authorities issued them the eviction notice and subsequently disconnected the electricity and water supply to their house on April 7.
Later, the widow and her four grown-up children barricaded themselves in their house and threatened to commit suicide en masse if they were forced out of their house.
“We have no other place to go, but to hell. We will kill ourselves if we will be evicted from our quarter,” they issued the threat for five days while showing a jerkin full of kerosene and a bottle of poison in their possession. Later, in the morning, they were found lying unconscious in the house.
“We have rushed them to the BSP hospital, where doctors declared the mother and three daughters brought dead . The son is in a critical condition now”, M.L. Kotwani, additional superintendent of police (ASP), Bhilai, told this newspaper.
BSP management had earlier clarified that the family members do not qualify to get a job on compassionate grounds as Mr Shah had committed suicide.
The BSP, meanwhile, released a press statement here, regretting the incident.
The statement clarified that the family members had agreed to leave the house on Tuesday morning, after a team of BSP officials on Monday assured them to consider their demands.
The state government, meanwhile, ordered a high level probe into the incident.