Caterer kills self with poison, second death in four days

Shahrukh Ali Khan. Pic/Hanif Patel

A Vasai resident, whose catering business suffered badly due to the lockdown, died by suicide on Saturday. His family and friends said he had been under immense stress recently. This is the second incident in the past few days. On Thursday, a businessman in Virar killed himself at his restaurant.

Shahrukh Ali Khan, 35, consumed poison on Saturday night, they said. "Khan was alone at home when he consumed poison. After the poison started to react in his body, he cried for help. Neighbours rushed to his house and took him to hospital," said Feroz Azmi, a friend of the deceased.

"When he was being taken to hospital, Khan told the neighbours that he had consumed poison and pleaded to be saved," said Azmi.

Ramji Narayan Devaliya, Khan's father-in-law, said he used to always ask how caterers could survive amid these restrictions

Khan had been running a catering business for the past decade, and is survived by his wife, Mahi Devaliya.

His father-in-law, Ramji Narayan Devaliya, said, "He was like a son to me. He took this extreme step as his catering business got badly hampered in the lockdown."

Khan would always ask ‘how can a caterer run his house if the number of guests is limited'. But we had to abide by the government's order during the lockdown. Now, who will listen to the pain of an old man whose daughter has become a widow at the age of 30?"

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Khan had spoken to Mahi hardly an hour before taking his life, said Devaliya. "My daughter was returning home from work. Khan would always go to the station to pick her up, but he did not that day."

A friend said that Khan was under tremendous stress, and "told us that it had become very difficult to run the house with very little to no income. Otherwise, he was a very jolly person."

Khan hails from Aligarh and his brothers took his body to Delhi for the last rites. Police have registered an Accidental Death Report.