A woman in Salem has died by suicide after throwing herself in front of a moving bus, hoping any compensation for her death would help her children pay their college fees.
Police have identified her as 39-years-old Pappathi, who worked as a temporary sweeper at the Salem collectorate.
A 48-second CCTV video of the incident, that NDTV can’t independently verify, shows the woman walking on the side of the road, facing the traffic, suddenly crossing the road towards a speeding bus only to be tossed over as the vehicle hit her. “She died on the spot last month. Initially, we registered a case of death by accident. Now we are altering it,” a police officer told NDTV.
The children of Pappathi, a single mother, are in college. The daughter is in her final year of Electronic Engineering course, and the son is pursuing Architecture at a Polytechnic college. “She comes from a poor background and someone has misled her on this. We are investigating,” police said.
However, Pappathi’s son denies these reports, calling them “fake news”. Not wanting to share his name, the youngster told NDTV, “Our relatives have been helping us for payment of fees. Tomorrow, the facts will come out”.
