A young man identified as Purna Gurung stabbed himself to near-death unconsciousness before dawn break on Saturday, Feb 23. He was rushed to the hospital by police called by the neighbor after his wife informed of his long silence in the bathroom, the door locked from inside.
The suicide of this man took place on early hours of the same day when some 45 Bhutanese community members plan to attend a phone conference to discuss the very issue of burgeoning suicide rates among Bhutanese across US. When the ORR officials in Washington updated the suicide number of 20, they were not expecting this suicide to add to the list.
Purna’s wife informed the neighbors about his long silence in the bathroom, with occasional thuds. She revealed to the immediate neighbors that she noticed some blood spilling from beneath the door, which prompted the neighbors to call police, before going to her help.
‘There has not been any case of family dispute or tension between husband and wife as per we know’, told one neighbor. ‘However, Purna had been ousted from his jobs and was not working’.
It was almost three months that they could not pay the house rent and were sued by the leasing company. A church affiliate, Purna was helped by the Church pay the rent of one month, according to another neighbor.
The deceased is suspected to have started drinking and gambling in a local bar, after he left the job.
The dead body is kept for postmortem while his widow wife is taken care of by his brothers living in another apartment in Atlanta.
Purna is survived by his wife and one year old daughter. He came from Timai camp.
