Bengaluru: Huge loans, pending projects drive 59-year-old realtor to death

The family of the deceased reportedly told the police that he was developing projects worth Rs 200 crore in the past few months, and was facing financial trouble.

Preliminary investigations revealed that Reddy was in the midst of a financial crisis as he had taken booking amounts from many people for his latest villa project.

BENGALURU: Huge debts availed for an ongoing construction project are said to have forced a 59-year-old realtor to jump from the seventh floor of his eight-storeyed building, which houses his office, in Panathur near Marathahalli, on Friday. The deceased, Ravish Reddy, was managing director of Skanda Land Promoters Pvt Ltd, and a resident of Panathur.

According to a senior police officer from Marathahalli, the incident occurred around 2.20pm when three people, including a woman, had gone to meet Reddy about a villa that they had booked but for which he had not executed the sale deed. The meeting resulted in an argument between them and in the melee, Reddy came out of the room to the balcony and jumped. The incident was witnessed by the office attendant and the firm manager, who alerted the police.

Reddy had executed a few villa projects as well as 3-bedroom apartment projects. The body was shifted to Vydehi Hospital for postmortem.  The company was planning more luxury housing projects off Outer Ring Road, in HSR Layout and a township spread over 160 acres at Devanahalli.

The body was shifted to Vydehi Hospital for postmortem.

The company was planning more luxury housing projects off Outer Ring Road, in HSR Layout and a township spread over 160 acres at Devanahalli.

The apartment where Ravish
Reddy was residing at
Marathahalli  | Express

Reddy was not among the well-known players in the city but had a good reputation for his projects in and around Kadubeesanahalli, another developer who focuses on East Bengaluru said.

Police recorded statements of the customers present in the office at the time of the incident. Preliminary investigations revealed that Reddy was in the midst of a financial crisis as he had taken booking amounts from many people for his latest villa project, but was unable to get the villas registered in the customers’ names. Hounded by financiers and customers, he had stopped answering phone calls. The family of the deceased reportedly told the police that he was developing projects worth Rs 200 crore in the past few months, and was facing financial trouble.

He did not leave behind any suicide note. Police are investigating, based on a complaint filed by a company staff. Raghu, a nephew of Reddy, however, said that he may have accidentally fallen off the balcony, but declined to comment further.