INDIA: Elderly man, wife commit suicide

. CHENNAI, Tamil Nadu / The Times of India / April 27, 2009 In a poignant incident that serves as a stark reminder of the helplessness of senior citizens in the city, a 75-year-old man and his wife committed suicide by hanging at their residence in Elephant Gate in North Chennai fearing they would become a burden for other. The couple Balan and Chandra (56) had no children. A suicide note, believed to be written by Chandra, said she and her husband had decided to end their lives since they did not want to be a burden for others. Chandra's brother Babu, a policeman, had on Saturday gone to her house and found the door locked from inside. When he peeped through the window he found Chandra and her husband hanging from the ceiling of their bed room. He immediately alerted the police and they removed the dead bodies to government hospital for post-mortem. Police also recovered a suicide note on a table inside the bedroom. The letter read that Chandra was suffering from illness and there were no one to take care for them. She mentioned in the letter that she wanted commit suicide and she did not want to leave her aged husband alone in this world. Elephant Gate police have registered a case and handed over the bodies to their relatives. Copyright © 2009 Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd