Wife of Kingfisher employee commits suicide

New Delhi : The wife of an employee of debt-ridden Kingfisher Airlines committed suicide here by hanging herself, police said Thursday. She was depressed over the deteriorating financial condition of her family.

“Sushmita Chakravarthy, 45, was found hanging with a ceiling fan at her south Delhi residence in Palam Thursday at 1:30 p.m.,” said a police official.

A suicide note left behind by her said that her husband has not received salary for the past four-five months, police said. Her husband Manas Chakravarthy, a retired airforce official, works as a technician in Kingfisher Airlines.

Their son studies engineering in Assam.

“Manas called his wife on her mobile phone. When she did not respond he reached his house and found her hanging,” the police official added. She was depressed over financial crisis, police said.

According to police, the couple failed to pay the college fee of their son this year due to financial crunch.

The debt-ridden airline was virtually grounded Monday as the passenger carrier had to cancel all its 50 flights after a section of its employees went on a flash strike Sunday demanding payment of their dues, pending since March, by Oct 5.

Additional Commissioner of Police (ACP) A.P. Ojha told IANS that Sushmita was depressed over the financial crisis for the past few months. The thought of airlines becoming defunct prompted her to take this extreme step, said police.

Sushmita’s body has been sent for post-mortem in Deen Dayal Upadhaya (DDU) Hospital, added the official.