A 29-year-old techie was found dead at his residence in Rajendranagar on Wednesday afternoon. However, the incident came to light only on Thursday after his wife lodged a complaint with the local police alleging that her husband, P. Sunil, took the extreme step due to harassment and humiliation by the app-based finance companies.
Sunil, who lost his job during COVID-19 lockdown, availed loans in small amounts through various apps to meet his monthly expenses and to clear existing loans and credit cards bills, police said.
This is the third such death in Telangana in the last one week due to harassment of app-based finance companies. Earlier this week, Eddu Srawan Yadav (23) from Narsapur, Medak and Kirni Mounika (28), AEO from Nangunur in Siddipet committed suicide over harassment and humiliation by these companies.
“He was being threatened and blackmailed by representatives of instant loan mobile app companies, who also phoned and messaged his friends and family members of the amount he defaulted,” Rajendranagar police said.
On Wednesday afternoon, Sunil, a native of Guntur, died by hanging himself from a ceiling fan, while his wife was sitting in another room.
“He ran into due to job loss due to lockdown. In order to overcome his debts and to meet regular expenses, he started taking loans from online instant loan apps,” police said. According to the investigators, Sunil availed nearly ₹ 2 lakh from various instant loan apps.
“As he failed to repay the loans, some app companies started blackmailing him and threatening him by contacting his family members and friends over social media platforms, including WhatsApp,” they said.
Even his father and wife got calls from the app companies declaring him a defaulter. When he learnt about those calls, Sunil got depressed and committed suicide by hanging at his flat at Kismathpur.
Based on the complaint lodged by his wife, a case under Sections 420, 306, 504, 506 of Indian Penal Code and 67 IT Act was registered against some financiers.
Preliminary police investigation revealed that Sunil took loans through some 35 apps, including In Cash, Cash era, Cash lion, Mastermelon, Lucky wallet, Coco cash, Rupee Pus, Indian Loan and Credit finch
“The genuinity of these apps and the transactions made by the deceased are being probed. These companies allegedly obtain data such as contacts, photographs from mobile phones of the customers and contacted them to defame or blackmail the customer to make the repayment,” police said.
There is always someone to listen at: +914066202000 or 6666 1117 in case of any emotional breakdowns at this Hyderabad-based suicide intervention centre Roshni.
