The cause behind the suicide of Tul Bahadur Pun, 52, of Tangram-9, Baglung, is not known yet but his relatives say it could be high expenses of the wife´s treatment and frustration. He had been bringing his wife Chitra Kumari to Pokhara for dialysis every week for the past two and half years after both of her kidneys failed. [break]
He had been taking his wife for dialysis only once a week even though she needed it twice a week. A weekly dialysis costs Rs 2,500. "He was not someone who could not pay for the treatment. But he may have got frustrated due to regular and costly treatment," his cousin Parvir Pun said.
Parvir said Tul Bahadur might have already spent around Rs 1.2 million for her treatment in the past two and half years.
Tul Bahadur was a former Indian army soldier who had retired 12 years ago after receiving multiple bullets in his chest. He still had one bullet inside his body. "He used to drink regularly to assuage the pain but he would never misbehave. He also had high blood pressure," Parvir revealed.
The ailing wife is yet to be told of the tragedy. She has been looking for him ever since she heard of "an attendant committing suicide inside the hospital at 10 in the morning".
The 48-year-old had sent her daughter to see who had committed suicide. The relatives are making excuses saying he has gone out to eat or pay the bills or to toilet but she is growing restless as the doting husband has not returned for hours. To make matters worse, the distraught daughter has also not come back to her.
"She has had doubts after seeing the relatives who would not come to see her at the hospital at other times," her nephew Rudra Sirish said. "But we have not told her anything yet due to her condition," Sirish said.
The relatives are looking to take the body to Baglung for cremation. The hospital has agreed to release Chitra Kumari for her husband´s funeral after the relatives´ constant insistence.
The Pun couple has two sons, one of whom has gone to Iraq about eight months ago, apart from the daughter.
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