COVID-19 fear drives gold smith to suicide at tank bund

Hyderabad: Fear of contracting deadly Covid-19, a goldsmith jumped to death in Hussain Sagar lake.

According to the sources, 37 year old Paltupan, originally a native of West Bengal, was staying at Doodh Bowli area of old city area for the past few years along with his family. Since last one week, he had a cold, cough and breathing problem. Prior to this he had visited a local clinic in the old city, upon which he was referred to a private hospital, where he was denied admission and asked to go Gandhi hospital.

The relatives of the deceased had alleged that Paltupan was denied admission in the private hospitals,

On Friday, he asked his friend Shridham Adak to accompany him to Tank Bund for a walk. Whe he reached the the Hussain Sagar lake, he immediately jumped into the water.

S. Lakshman, Sub-inspector, Ramgopalpet PS said that the kin of Paltupan was depressed after developing symptoms of Covid-19 and that he might have died by suicide because of the fear.

A team of police on Sunday retrieved the body from Hussain Sagar and shifted to Osmania mortuary.