Maharashtra: Upset over water scarcity, farmer commits suicide

A 47-year-old farmer, who was apparently under depression due to drought and unavailability of water and fodder for his cattle, allegedly committed suicide in Maharashtra's Satara district, police said on Thursday.

Sampat Kokre hanged himself on Wednesday from the ceiling of a room at his house in Man tehsil, located around 250 km from Mumbai, an official at Dahiwadi police station said.

He took the extreme step when his wife and son had gone out of the house for some work, he said.

On being informed, the police rushed to the spot and sent the body for postmortem, the official said.

Talking to PTI, the farmer's nephew, Uttam Kokre, said, "My uncle was under depression as he did not have any work due to drought and unavailability of water. He had some land and a few cattle, but was unable to feed them well." The police official, however, said Kokre had liquor addition since last 10 years and was jobless, and they suspect this might have led him to commit suicide.

"We have called his relatives to record their statements," he said, adding that an investigation was on