Laid off during lockdown, Hyderabad-based techie dies by suicide due to harassment from online lender

Hyderabad: A 28-year-old man allegedly died by suicide after being harassed by an online money lending company from whom he had taken a loan, police said on Friday. P Sunil, a software professional who lost his job during the lockdown to contain coronavirus, died by suicide by hanging from a ceiling fan on Wednesday, they said. The lender started sending messages to Sunil saying that they would defame him as a defaulter by posting messages to his friends and relatives, police said. “He took loans from various lenders and defaulted om some of them. He slipped into financial stress as lenders started putting pressure on him to repay the loans,” a police official said. A police press release said initial investigations revealed that Sunil had used 35 online apps to avail of loans. The genuineness of these apps and the transactions made by him were being investigated thoroughly, it said. These app companies allegedly obtained sensitive data such as contacts and photographs from the mobile phones of customers and used them to defame or blackmail the victims to get the repayment. “A series of complaints have been received against such instant loan apps at various police stations and these are being probed to bring the culprits to book,” the release said. Police requested the public not to go for loans from these “unauthorised” and unreliable loan apps which may use sensitive information from mobile phones. In a similar instance, a 25-year-old woman on Wednesday allegedly died by suicide in Siddipet district, upset after an app-based lender from whom she had taken a loan sent messagesto contacts list in her phone, alleging that she defaulted on the loan repayment.