India: Migrant worker from Assam commits suicide in Surat

Surat, May 20 (PTI) A 20-year-old migrant labourer from Assam, who had lost his job due to the COVID-19-enforced lockdown, allegedly committed suicide at a slum in Gujarat's Surat city on Wednesday, police said.

Sunil Rijajagan Maheli was found hanging from the ceiling of his tenement in the Bhestan locality in the morning, inspector D K Patel of Pandesara police station said.

"The deceased, who was living with other Assamese labourers, had lost his job and had stayed behind even as others left for their home state," the official said.

An investigations was underway to ascertain the exact reason for the extreme step, but prima facie it appears he was depressed after being out of job due to the lockdown and unable to go back to his native place, he added.

Lakhs of migrant labourers, who lost their livelihoods due to the lockdown, have been returning to their home states by any means possible and several such workers have lost their lives in their attempt to reach their native places.