Man sold mobile phone to buy food for family and then committed suicide in Gurugram [Representative image] | Photo Credit: IANS

Key Highlights The slum-dweller sold his mobile phone for Rs 2,500 to a buyer and purchased rice, flour and sugar, and a table fan for his family The people in the neighbourhood pooled money to perform the deceased man’s last rites One family member of the deceased man said that he was mentally unstable and nobody was responsible for his death

Gurugram: In a tragic incident reported from a slum cluster in Saraswati Kunj area in Gurugram, a poor man, in his early 30s, allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in his tin hutment on Thursday. Before ending his life, the man sold his mobile phone for Rs 2,500 to a buyer and purchased rice, flour and sugar, and a table fan so that his four children could sleep comfortably in the summer heat.

Man handed over balance to wife

Reportedly, the now-deceased man, identified as Mukesh, handed over the remaining money he got by selling his cellphone to his wife and went inside his tin hut and hung himself. His wife, identified as Poonam, broke down when she walked in and found Mukesh hanging from the ceiling.

The family of the deceased man did not have any money except what Mukesh got after selling his mobile phone. The people in the neighbourhood pooled money to perform his last rites. Among his four children, the youngest child is just four months old. The other three children are seven-year-old Soni, four-year-old Golu and two-year-old Kajal.

Deceased was in deep distress, says relative

While speaking to the Times of India, Mukesh’s father-in-law, identified as Umesh Mukhiya said that Mukesh’s primary trade was house painting and he was in deep distress due to drying up of jobs in the last two months. So, he began working as a daily wager and took up any job that he found. But those jobs were also sucked up by the lockdown which was imposed to wind down the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Umesh added that Mukesh was also under pressure to repay some loans.

'Deceased was mentally unstable'

However, Police Commissioner Mohammad Akil told TOI that the investigating officials had recorded Umesh’s statement claiming that his son-in-law was mentally unstable. The commissioner added that one of Mukesh’s family members told the police that he used to beg and did not have any regular source of income. The kin also stated that the deceased man was mentally unstable.