Sitamarhi: A mother and her three young children were found dead in a pond on Wednesday in Shrirampur village under the Bela police station area. The police believe the woman, identified as Manju Devi, died by suicide after a heated argument with her husband over money.
According to officials and villagers, the dispute began when Manju asked her husband for ₹5,000 to visit a fair and pay the EMI on a loan she had taken from a women’s self-help group. Her husband, Sanjeev, told her that he did not have the money, which escalated the argument. Eventually, Sanjeev borrowed ₹500 from his elder sister, Kailashiya Devi, and sent it to Manju, but this did little to ease the tension.
Despite her husband’s attempts to resolve the situation, Manju was deeply disturbed. The tension simmered throughout the day, and by evening, it reached a heartbreaking climax. According to villagers, Manju spent the day gathering household items into two rooms of their home. She then set fire to the belongings, locked the house from the outside, and left with her three children through the back door.
The family’s house was soon engulfed in flames, destroying all of Sanjeev’s possessions, including a bike, grains, and other essentials. Villagers who noticed the smoke were too late to save the household items. It was later discovered that Manju, in her despair, had taken her children and jumped into a nearby pond, ending their lives.
Manju had taken a loan of ₹35,000 from a women’s self-help group under the Jeevika scheme and was diligently paying an installment of ₹2,000 each month. Madhubala, the community catalyst of Jeevika in Parihar block, confirmed that Manju had also been seeking additional loans from other organizations, which might have added to her financial burden.
The shocking incident has left the entire village in grief and disbelief. Sanjeev had been living in the village of Lakshmipur with his wife and children for the past seven years after purchasing land and building a home. He had moved from his native Nagra village after facing difficulties with his relatives. Sanjeev’s parents had passed away when he was a child, and he had taken on the responsibility of supporting his two sisters, both of whom he later helped get married.
