The wife and son of the man who hanged himself on a telephone signal tower near Wat Phra Dhammakaya on Saturday night are still in the dark over the motive for his suicide, according to media reports.
After being lowered to the ground from the signal tower, the man was identified from his ID card as Anawat Thanacharoennat, 64, of house No.42/724 on Soi Nitmit Mai 40 in Bangkok's Khlong Sam Wa district.
He was also carrying a pen and a Samsung Hero mobile phone.
According to Matichon Online, his wife, Mrs Nawaporn, and son Rathanan showed up at Khlong Luang police station in Pathum Thani on Sunday morning after being contacted by police.
Mrs Nawaporn said Anawat left his house at noon on Saturday in a Toyota pick-up truck with a black backpack but she did not know where he was heading.
She said her husband, a dried fruit vendor, usually drove his pick-up to the Thai Market in Rangsit area to buy dried fruit to be put in packs and sold.
She said her husband was several hundreds of thousand of baht in debt. He had been under stress and was regularly taking a tranquilliser from Nawamin Hospital.
According to Mrs Nawaporn, about 10 years ago Anawat went to Wat Phra Dhammakaya to make merit. He was once ordained as a novice at Wat Paknam Phasi Charoen temple and had high respect for Luang Phor Sod, the late abbot of the temple.
Her husband often read newspapers and watched television to keep up-to-date with the news, but had never joined a political rally, she said.
She and her son had no idea what led to his suicide as he had never shown signs of erratic behaviour before.
After Anawat's death, Wat Phra Dhammakaya said in a statement that he was not a disciple of the temple.
