Debt-ridden farmer allegedly immolates himself in State

A 75-year-old farmer lighted his own ‘pyre’ and immolated himself in Yavatmal district, his son has alleged. The local police have registered only a case of unnatural death and are conducting further probe. The incident took place at Savleshwar in Umarkhed tehsil two days ago. Madhav Shankar Rawate, the farmer, set up a pyre of fodder under a tree on his farm, lighted it and jumped into it after climbing the tree, his son G M Rawate told reporters. Rawate’s cotton crop on his four-acre farm was ruined by the pink boll-worm attack, and he could get only three quintals of the crop, the son claimed, adding that his father owed Rs 60,000 to creditors, an official at the Biterrgaon police station said.