Vellarada: A 52-year-old widow committed suicide on February 10 after a pack of monkeys constantly troubled her by destroying her house and household items in a village of Kerala bordering Tamil Nadu.
Pushpabai Muthayyan lost her husband a year ago and used to do odd jobs for a living. She ended her life by consuming acid at her house. Her son Riju Muthayyan rushed her to Kattakad government hospital where she succumbed to death.
Before her death, Pushpabai told the doctor that, “Monkeys have made my life unbearable.” So she tried to commit suicide.
Riju Muthayyan said. “Most of our neighbors shifted from the area which is under constant attack of monkeys. We could not shift as we have no means. Monkeys used to raid our house and destroy household articles and cooked food. On Thursday, the mother had gone for work under NREGA program. When she returned home in the evening, she found monkeys destroyed her cooked food and household articles and dress.”
Riju said monkey menace is an everyday affair in the area as the monkeys destroy crops and vegetables and even attack women and children.
Pushpabai’s body was handed over to her relatives after postmortem. Her death triggered protest in the area and demanded government’s intervention to end the monkey menace in the area.