By Express News Service

CHENNAI: In a bizarre incident, a lover, slashed his wrist and collected the blood in an empty beer bottle and asked his friend to hand it over to his girlfriend as his final gift. The man later died in the hospital.

The man worked as a carpenter, said the police. He was said to be in a relationship over the last few years. They had decided to settle down after the man was doing well in his profession, said the police. But all was not well. “A few weeks ago, the woman stopped picking his calls and blocked him on social media. He tried to contact her and meet her many times, but in vain. Following this, he was dejected and did not talk to anyone properly,” a police officer said.

On Tuesday night, he met his friends at Pallavaram to consume alcohol and lamented that his girlfriend was avoiding him. Suddenly, he broke a beer bottle and slit his left wrist and started collecting the blood in the empty bottle.

His friends tried to stop him, but he placed the broken beer bottle to his throat and asked them to step back. His friends, however, managed to overpower him and rushed him to a hospital at Chromepet, the officer said.

Police said that the man did not even allow doctors to treat him. He then gave the blood he collected to a friend and asked him to hand it over to the woman he loved. After he fell unconscious, doctors tried to treat him, but he died around 1.30am. Shankar Nagar police registered a case and are investigating.

(Assistance for those having suicidal thoughts is available on Tamil Nadu’s health helpline 104 and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050)