A week before he killed himself, Simhadri Venkateshwar Rao, a tobaccco farmer, wrote a letter to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu with a question. If he could spend crores on customising a bus for his own safety, is a farmer's life worth nothing? "For the sake of other farmers, I am ready to sacrifice my life," he warned in the letter that was also addressed to the Centre. On Tuesday, he acted on his threat by drinking pesticide.
