A 38-year-old jobless migrant worker was found hanging from a tree in Birbhum’s Muraroi on Friday evening, his family members saying he was depressed as he couldn’t return to his workplace Kerala and had to spend his savings to run the family.

Napu Mal, a resident of Mahurapur village of Muraroi, had moved to Kerala two years ago to work as a mason. He had been saving money from his income to build a pucca house. However, he lost his job during the lockdown and had to spend Rs 25,000 from his savings to return home from Kerala in July.

“Napu lost his job because of the pandemic and had to shell out Rs 25,000 for an air ticket to get back home in July. He was getting frustrated as did not have income ever since he returned home, and there was no news of him getting back his old job in Kerala. Whatever remained of his savings was spent to run the family. This made him depressed,” said Napu’s elder brother Rupu Mal, who added that the migrant worker has left behind his wife and two children. He told that family members were aware of Napu’s frustration and had advised him to take up whatever job was available locally, but he refused to listen.

Napu’s wife Sushanti Mal said: “Both my sons are minors. I don’t know how we will survive.”

Though the state government had offered jobs to migrant workers under the MGNREGA, Napu was not a beneficiary.

“After I came to know about the suicide of the migrant worker, I spoke to panchayat authorities. I have been told that the person had never approached the authorities for a job under MGNREGA. We have helped out at least 3,000 migrant workers who have returned from their workplace,” said Nishith Vaskar Paul, BDO of Muraroi-I.

Badrunnessa Begum, the pradhan of Mahurapur gram panchayat, said: “We heard that the migrant worker was facing problems for the lack of income but neither he nor his family members approached us. However, we will try to do whatever we can for the bereaved family.”

A police officer said the body had been sent to Rampurhat hospital for autopsy.