This Man Didn’t End His Life Over Women Entering Sabarimala

The man in the photo took his own life, but it had nothing to do with the Sabarimala row.

Rumours of a man killing himself over the Sabarimala issue have gone viral.

(Photo Altered By The Quint)

Don’t fall for fake news, click here to check out The Quint’s WebQoof stories.

Since two women – Bindu (42) and Kanakadurga (44) – entered the sanctum sanctorum of Sabarimala temple on 2 January, a slew of rumours related to the issue are doing the rounds.

The latest addition to this list is of a man purportedly taking his own life because of ‘desecration of the Sabarimala temple’.

CLAIM

A tweet put out by the handle @PartyVillage017 claims that a man by the name Jayarajan from Valanchery in Kerala ended his life after being ‘heartbroken’ as the two women entering the temple desecrated it.

TRUE OR FALSE

The claim is false. The Quint has established that the man in the photo is indeed Jayarajan and he did end his life, but the incident was not related to Sabarimala temple.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

The tweet mentioned above has gone viral on social media. Till this article was written, it had been retweeted 1,327 times.

Further, posts with similar claims and the same picture was being circulated on Facebook too.

Screenshot of Facebook accounts spreading the rumour

However, when The Quint contacted Valanchery police, they confirmed that the claim is false.

“Jayarajan did commit suicide three days ago. But his daughter has confirmed that it had nothing to do with the Sabarimala issue. Neither was he an Ayyappa devotee. He was going through financial and mental issues.”

Pramod P, Inspector, Valanchery Police Station

Pramod also said that the image with the said message was being circulated on WhatsApp as well.

“I saw the picture of him, standing in front of a temple, being circulated in WhatsApp groups. That is Jayarajan but his death is not related to Sabarimala at all," Pramod said.

(Not convinced of a story you came across on social media and want it verified? Send us the details at [e-mail] and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)