Humiliated by sons’ ill-treatment, 90-yr-old man lights own funeral pyre, ends life in Husnabad

SIDDIPET: Unable to digest his children’s indifference in the twilight of his life, a 90-year-old man in Siddipet district of Telangana died by suicide in the most unusual and heart-rending fashion. In a heart-wrenching irony of sorts, he performed his own last rites, by arranging the funeral pyre and then jumping into the fire.

The incident, which reflects growing reluctance among offspring to care for elders especially after inheriting wealth and property, came to light after a half-burnt body of Medaboyina Venkataiah (90) was found on the outskirts of Potlapally in Husnabad mandal of Siddipet district on Thursday afternoon. As being widely perceived, Venkataiah took the extreme step in the most bizarre fashion, deeply hurt and unable to stomach the veiled rejection by his sons who have recently decided to take care of their father in turns.

A native of Potlapally, Venkataiah has four sons and a daughter. His wife passed away many years before. While two of his sons are based in Potlapally, the third one lives in Husnabad and the fourth, in Nawabupeta of Chigurumamidi mandal in Karimnagar district. Venkataiah equally distributed his four-acre land among his sons, who all are eking out a living as farm labourers.

Receiving his old-age pension, Venkataiah lived with his elder son in the village till recently. However, trouble started when a dispute arose among his sons on who should bear the expenditure for their father’s care. A compromise formula was arrived at in the presence of some village elders five months ago. It was then decided that Venkataiah would be taken care of by his sons in turns and he would spend one month with each one of them.

Having completed a month at his elder son’s house in Potlapally, the old man was supposed to go to Nawabupeta to stay with another son. Having spent all his life at the village, Venkataiah was reluctant to step out of the place he loved most. After leaving his elder son’s house in the village on May 2, 2023 (Tuesday), he spent the night at a local leader’s house where he reportedly vented out his anguish over his plight.

On the morning of May 3, he left the local leader’s house to visit his son in Nawabupeta. But, he did not turn up at any of his sons’ places until evening. On Thursday afternoon, villagers in Potlapally noticed a half-burnt body of an old man near Yellammagutta. The family members later identified the dead as Venkataiah, prompting the police and the locals to believe that he had indeed died by suicide by lighting his own funeral pyre.

As was visible at the incident site, Venkataiah used dried palm leaves to arrange the funeral pyre and set it ablaze before jumping into the fire.