Chandigarh, June 16 (IANS) Perturbed over the fate of the agitation of farmers against three contentious farm laws, a 55-year-old marginal farmer on Wednesday allegedly committed suicide by consuming poisonous substance at a protest site in Jind district of Haryana.
The victim, Zile Singh, had been actively involved in serving food to farmers at the protest site on the Khatkar toll plaza for several months.
He is survived by his wife and three children.
Farmers at the protest site told the police that Zile Singh was under depression for the past few days over the fate of the agitation.
District BKU leader Azad Singh said Zile Singh was alone at the protest site when he committed the suicide at night.
In the morning when farmers arrived at the protest site they found him lying on the bed in an unconscious condition. A bottle of poison was recovered from there, he added.
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At several places including outside the Delhi borders, the farmers burnt effigies of the Central government, hoisted black flags on their homes, farms or vehicles to condemn the farm laws and demanding their rollback as over 470 farmers' lives have been lost in the past six months.
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India broke its own previous record of Covid deaths in 24 hours after the the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday said the nation recorded 4,529 deaths -- the highest number of fatalities from Covid infection.
