Three persons engaged in money lending business have been arrested in connection with the suicide of five members of a family here due to indebtedness and threat from the lenders, police said today.
The arrests were made based on a suicide note which stated that 'they (the family members) had taken loan and were under pressure to repay the same'.
The suicide note, recovered from the house where the family members ended their lives by consuming poison yesterday, also mentioned the names of the persons who gave the loan and threatened them, police said.
The deceased were identified as Manoharan (66), his wife Maheswari (61), and their sons Biju (36) and Saju (33) and Biju's wife Krishnenthu (24).
Biju, elder son of Manoharan, had incurred a heavy loss in stock market business. He was also suspected to have invested in shares, much of which had been borrowed from 'blade mafia', the private money lenders who charge exorbitant interest rate.
This had led the family to debt, according to the preliminary report of police.
Locals said debt collectors of the money lenders had repeatedly visited the house and threatened the family to clear the dues, which ran into lakhs of rupees.
Taking a serious view of the incident, state Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala had directed police to take stringent action against 'blade mafia' operating in the state, officials said.
