Vijayawada: Mother ends life after son dies of Covid

VIJAYAWADA: The relatives of a 60-year-old woman in Vijayawada refused to conduct her final rites after she committed suicide following her 42-year-old son's death due to Covid-19. This comes just two days after the body of a Covid-19 deceased was rejected by his kin and neighbours in Srikakulam , leaving government officials to conduct the final rites.

The woman took the extreme step on July 25, though the incident came to light on Sunday night after her body was recovered from the river bank. Sources said after the son died on July 24, his wife was taken to be quarantined the next day. Left alone and depressed, the sexagenarian is believed to have jumped into river Krishna .

Nagayalanka SI Challa Krishna, who conducted the last rites of her son on July 24 after relatives refused to have anything to do with it, did the same for the mother as well.

"We alerted her relatives after her body was recovered, but they again refused to conduct her last rites fearing they would be infected and requested me to do it again," Krishna told TOI. After the woman's son contracted the infection, their relatives distanced themselves from them.