A day after five sisters of Sri Aurobindo Ashram run Ambabhikshu apartments were evicted from the premises as per the directions of the Supreme Court, two sisters, and their mother, ended their lives in an alleged extended suicide bid by drowning in the sea.

The dead were identified as the siblings Arunashree (50) and Rajashree (45) and their mother Shanthi Devi (65).

Shanthi Devis husband Gadhadhar Prasad (70) and three other sisters Jayashree Prasad (54), Nivedita Prasad (42) and Hemalata Prasad (40) were saved from drowning by fishermen who were returning to the shore and were rushed to the Puducherry Government General Hospital.

The incident sparked off protests by political leaders and the Ashram too came under attack by miscreants.

Police sources said the sisters along with their parents, who were staying in Captain Marius Xavier Street, boarded a bus to Kalapet in the early hours of Thursday. According to eyewitnesses, the seven-member family walked towards the beach. A short while later, a group of fishermen who were returning to the shore saw them struggling in the waves and managed to rescue four of them. However, Arunashree, Rajashree and their mother Shanthi Devi drowned. Their bodies washed ashore at Chinna Mudaliyar Chavady and Thantharayankuppam beachfronts.

The bodies were sent to Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) at Kalapet for post-mortem. The rescued were admitted to the Puducherry government hospital. A case has been registered by Tamil Nadu Kottakuppam police.

An Ashram inmate termed the incident as unfortunate.

Bitter end to a long-drawn battle

The incident brings to a tragic end a long-drawn tussle between the Ashram and the five sisters. The Ashrams legal battle to evict the sisters for defying its rules and regulations, which dates back to 2002 culminated with a Supreme Court direction on December 9 to the sisters to vacate the premises within seven days, failing which, the court asked the jurisdictional police station All Mahila police station, Puducherry, to evict them from the Ambabhikshu House.

The five sisters had given a joint letter addressed to the Trustees of Sri Aurobindo Ashram on December 15 threatening to end their lives if anyone, including the Ashram Trust or Police, launches action to evict them from the premises as per the directions of the Supreme Court. It was amid high drama that a police team evicted the sisters on Wednesday and relocated them to their parents house in the Boulevard area.

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Evicted from Aurobindo Ashram, two sisters, mother end life