BADI (MADHYA PRADESH): With a vacant expression on his face and bloodshot eyes, Rajendra Sisodiya, the newly appointed sarpanch of Badi village in Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh, sits in front of his house in a blazing May afternoon, wondering how he will discharge his new responsibilities.Sisodiya was made sarpanch two months ago after his cousin Jeevan, the elected village head, committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree in front of his house. His mother and brother, too, had killed themselves.In a bizarre combination of financial distress, superstition and clinical depression, Khargone, officially one of the country's 250 most backward districts, has reported 381suicides in the past one year.Of these unnatural deaths, Badi village in the district, with a population of around 2,500, has reported more than 350 suicides in the last two decades. “In the first three months of this year, 80 Badi villagers have killed themselves,“ said Khargone SP Amit Singh. Every household in the village of Badi (Madhya Pradesh) has had a suicide. “There are 320 families in our village and at least one person from each has killed himself or herself,“ said Sisodiya.The sarpanch attributes the deaths to a “demonic presence“ in the village, but psychiatrists this correspondent spoke to pointed at rational causes behind the high rate of suicide.Indore-based psychiatrist Dr Srikanth Reddy said the suicides are related to depression and schizophrenic episodes among villagers, possibly due to excessive use of pesticides, apart from financial stress.“Depression isn't something people here are easily able to relate to or identify. When they are unable to find any reason, they associate it with locally explainable phe nomenon like demonic presence,“ said Dr Reddy , adding that the issue needs urgent notice of authorities.“Apart from financial distress, there could be other causes for this depression. In a study some years ago in China, where a large number of farmers in a particular area were committing suicide, it was found that insecticides used there contained organophosphate, which is highly toxic and causes depressive mental conditions. Suicides in Badi and in Khargone at large, therefore, need to be probed,“ Dr Reddy told TOI.Most Khargone villagers grow cash crops like cotton and its failure hits them hard, sending them into financial distress. Similar conditions exist in Vidarbha in Maharashtra, and Khargone is along MP-Maharashtra border.Alarmed by these unnatural deaths, Khargone collector Ashok Verma has decided to form a committee to probe the suicides. “This is a very grave situation and we need to act fast. The villagers lack confidence and motivation and it's very important to counsel them," Verma said.A few Badi residents give hope. Groups of women counsel their men and their activism has led to a ban on sale of liquor in the village. “But even if liquor is prohibited in Badi, our men go to adjoining villages to get drunk,“ said Sunita Singh, a Badi resident.Jitendra Kushwaha, a police chowki in-charge, said, “Even when these villagers get hurt, they go to quacks instead of hospitals. Many suicides were psychologically ill.They were not taken to doctors for fear of social stigma.“