Three people died and two others were left battling for their lives after a family of five consumed poison over mounting debt and alleged harassment by loan recovery agents of private banks in Banka district of Bihar on Saturday.

The deceased have been identified as Kanhaiya Mahto, aged 40, his wife Geeta Devi, aged 35, and son Dheeraj Kumar, aged 12. Two of their children Sarita Kumari and Rakesh Kumar were in serious condition and undergoing intensive medical treatment at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital (JLNMCH) at Bhagalpur.

The family resided at Subhanpur Balua village under Amarpur police station area in Banka district and had taken loans from different private banks. Kanhaiya and Geeta took the drastic step after all the efforts to come out of the debt trap failed.

“My father was overburdened with debt and the loan recovery agents were continuously harassing us for instalments. He asserted that he had acquired a bad name due to the loans and there was no point in living any further. My parents gave us Sulphas (Celphos) tablets and then ate it themselves,” Sarita told reporters.

The pesticide aluminium phosphide is popularly known as Sulphas (Celphos) in rural areas and is used to keep food grains safe from insects. It has also become a common substance used by farmers to commit suicide.

While four members of the family consumed Sulphas, the youngest son Rakesh Kumar vomited it and ran out to inform his relatives living nearby. They came quickly and took all of them to the government referral hospital at Amarpur. The doctors there referred them to JLNMCH due to their serious condition.

Kanhaiya died on the way to JLNMCH, while his wife and son Dheeraj succumbed to the poison while undergoing treatment.

Amarpur station house officer (SHO) Pankaj Kumar Jha said that the police knew of the entire sequence of events and were mulling further action.

“We immediately sent a police team to the spot. It helped in taking them to the hospital. Three of the family members have lost their lives. We will investigate the incident and take further action,” Jha said.