THRISSUR: In what is popularly being described as the first case of suicide in the backdrop of closure of liquor outlets in the state, the body of a 38-year-old man was found hanging from a tree at

near Kecheri in the district on Friday morning.

The deceased has been identified as Kulangara Veettil Sanoj. The police said his relatives and neighbours had stated that he was a regular drinker and was disturbed after the closure of liquor shops in the wake of nationwide lockdown amid rising Covid-19 cases.

However, his cousin Pradeep said Sanoj was disturbed on many other counts. His father Changan is bed-ridden, mother Janaki is also ailing, he himself had not reached anywhere in life, survived on errant jobs, not yet married, and the lockdown had drastically reduced his job opportunities, Pradeep said.

"Sanoj was drinking probably to avoid confronting these harsh realities of life, and when there was a dip in the flow of liquor he must have found it unbearable to face the truth and could have decided to end his life," Pradeep said.

ACP T S Sanoj said the police had not recovered any suicide note from the victim’s house.

Meanwhile, noted psychologist Prof P O George warned against the dangers of attributing the suicide to a single cause of non-availability of liquor. "Of course we must strengthen the de-addiction facilities to support the people who may show withdrawal symptoms in the immediate days of absence of liquor. But suicides are triggered by multiple factors, and attributing it to one cause will be oversimplification and reductionism. The overall lockdown has also created situations of various forms of isolation and vulnerability," Prof George said.

Keralainister for local self government, A C Moideen said the ward level committees should ensure that the people showing withdrawal symptoms be taken to the de-addiction centres.