2 youths 'die by suicide'

Bodies of two young men were found in a field in Bahadurpur village of Harinakundu upazila of the district yesterday morning.

Police said autopsies found that the men, who were friends, apparently died by suicide.

Informed by locals, police went to the scene and found the bodies of Ripon Hossain, 28, and Awal Hossain, 27, in a field around 8:30am, said Ashaduzzaman, officer-in-charge of Harinakundu Police Station.

He added that the men appeared to have ingested pesticide and an empty bottle of pesticide was found at the scene.

Quoting their families, the officer said that the men were “deeply frustrated about being unemployed”.

Police also found a suicide note in Ripon's pocket, in which the duo said goodbye to their families and apologised for “hurting and annoying you”.  

Ripon's father Gul Box told The Daily Star that both the young men had left their studies several years ago.

Neighbours said they went to Dhaka to look for work in February.

Convincing their parents that they would be recruited through bribing someone, Ripon took Tk 7 lakh from his family and Awal took Tk 40,000 from his.

But the young men were swindled out of the money in Dhaka and went back to their village before the Eid.

Family members of the two men, who are farmers, have not been happy at the turn of events and they often quarrelled, said their neighbours.