50-year-old Savji Bhojani, a farmer from Motarampur village of Padadhari taluka in Rajkot district, reportedly committed suicide on Thursday, January 25.
Bhojani set himself ablaze, reportedly due to crop failure. Times of India reported that Bhojani’s cumin crop had failed and he was suffering from depression as a result. Bhojani had taken a loan for the crop, after his previous crop of groundnut had also failed.
Firoz Baloch, head constable of Padadhari police station, told TOI, “While the other members of his family were asleep early Thursday morning, Bhojani doused himself over with kerosene and set self ablaze. His family members rushed him to Rajkot Civil Hospital where he was declared dead on admission.”
TOI reported that since September 2018, 23 farmers have killed themselves in the Saurashtra region alone. “Six suicides were reported from Amreli , four from Devboomi Dwarka and Surendranagar districts, three from Rajkot district, and two each from Porbandar and Junagadh. One suicide each was reported from Jamnagar and Bhavnagar districts,” the report said.
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