Indian Man ‘ridden by debt’ sets family on fire killing wife and daughter

Loan shark was pressuring the labourer to pay more interest on a loan, officials say

An Indian labourer erects a stage in front of the Taj Mahal hotel. Unskilled manual labourers are considered some of the country's most impoverished workers (EPA)

A loan shark has been arrested after man set himself and his family alight in an attempt to escape his crippling debt.

Identified only as Esakimuthu, the financially insolvent labourer from India's southern Tirunelveli region had taken a loan of 142,000 rupees (£1,600) to start a business.

But although he had already paid back twice the amount he had borrowed, he remained under pressure to pay more interest on his original loan.

Facing an estimated £2,300 in further repayments, he decided instead to douse himself and his family with kerosene and set them alight.

It is believed he decided to burn his family because he knew that they would face the burden of the debt if he only took his own life.

While his wife and child perished in the blaze, he survived, although the extent of his injuries are unknown.

"We have started an investigation over allegations that the police and officials didn't help the man," local official Sandeep Nanduri told the Agence France Presse news agency. "A police officer has been transferred and his role is being investigated."

The lender has since been arrested on charges of assisting suicide and breaching laws on charging exorbitant interest.

Low-income Indians, many of them farmers, are denied bank loans and rely on unscrupulous lenders to offer solutions.

In August, hundreds of farmers – some carrying human skulls they said were from farmers who committed suicide in the drought-stricken southern state of Tamil Nadu –staged what they said was a 100-day protest in New Delhi to “prevent the suicide of farmers who feed the nation”.