21-yr-old dies after taking poison over unpaid dues

A 21-year-old youth died after ingesting poison in Derai upazila of Sunamganj, with his family alleging that a creditor assaulted him and provoked him to take poison over unpaid dues.

The victim, Joy Mahapatra, son of Liton Mahapatra of Bhangadhar village in the upazila, fell seriously ill on Thursday evening and died at Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital on Friday morning.

Emanul Haque Chowdhury, officer-in-charge of Derai Police Station, said, “We are investigating the incident. No case has been filed yet.”

According to locals, Joy bought a mobile phone on instalments for Tk 5,500 about three months ago from Amirul Islam of Burhanpur village. About Tk 2,500 remained unpaid, leading to a dispute.

Joy’s mother, Shelly Mahapatra, alleged assault and provocation by the creditor.

She said, “My son came home vomiting. When I asked him what happened, he said Amirul made him ingest something over the debt issue.

“After my son was hospitalised, I went to meet Amirul, and he told me that he gave my son poison and told him to die if he couldn’t pay the weekly instalment of Tk 500.”

Contacted, Amirul denied the allegations and said, “He [Joy] bought a phone from me three months ago but did not pay the instalments regularly. Tk 2,500 for the phone and Tk 300 for mobile recharge were due.

“On Thursday morning, after finding him in the local bazaar, I took the phone back. In the evening, he came and said he couldn’t pay and asked to take the SIM back, which I returned.”

Amirul added, “He asked if there was poison in the shop. I told him there wasn’t, and at that, he left. Later, his mother came to meet me and accused me of assaulting her son and handing him poison. I did not beat him, and I did not give him poison.”