Did not receive benefit; Cancer patient who consumed poison at PF office dies

KOCHI: A cancer patient, who consumed poison at the PF office in Kochi, died while undergoing treatment. The deceased is Thrissur native PK Sivaraman (68), a former employee of a contract company in Apollo Tyres. Sivaraman consumed poison on Tuesday after getting dejected for not receiving a PF benefit of Rs.80,000 even after years of retirement. He died on Wednesday morning. The police found a suicide note written by Sivaraman alleging that the officials of the PF office were responsible for his death.

Sivaraman, who reached the regional PF office in Kaloor at around 1.30 pm on Tuesday, entered the toilet and drank the poisonous liquid. He attempted suicide after sharing his distress with the officials. When the staff became suspicious and opened the toilet door, they saw Sivaraman in a weak state.

After his retirement in 2019, Sivaraman had applied for his benefits at the PF office. However, he did not receive the benefit even after visiting the office several times. The issue was that the date of birth on the Aadhaar card that he used to apply for EPF membership did not match the one on the updated Aadhaar card that was sent with the retirement benefit application. Sivaraman tried to resolve the issue multiple times by supplying the company documents and other materials, but he was met with unfavourable responses from the authorities.

The officials had directed him to produce the school record to prove his age. Although Sivaraman, who studied only up to the third standard, went to the school, he did not receive the years-old document. Sivaraman was diagnosed with oral cancer four years ago. The body was handed over to the relatives after post-mortem at Kalamassery Medical College. Wife: Omana. Children: Pratheesh and Rajeesh.