VIJAYAWADA: A man was found hanging from a ceiling fan in a church in Machilipatnam on Wednesday. The alleged suicide comes after he was being ‘humiliated’ by a financier for his failure to pay monthly loan instalments. Though the incident happened four days ago, it came to light on Sunday when a selfie video recorded by the deceased before committing suicide was retrieved from his mobile phone by his friends. The video posted on social media went viral within minutes.
Machilipatnam taluk Sub-Inspector Ranganath said the deceased was identified as K Bhanu Prakash. No suicide note was found at the spot where he hanged himself. His family members did not raise any suspicion pertaining to Bhanu Prakash’s extreme step. The police initially registered a case under Section 174 (suspicious death) of CrPC and the body was sent for postmortem.
In the one-minute selfie video, Bhanu Prakash stated that he took loan from financier Akhil at an interest rate of Rs 5 a few months ago. He alleged that Akhil and his father S Narayana forced him to pay monthly installments at an exorbitant interest rate of Rs 10.
The father-son duo ‘humiliated’ and ‘abused’ him in front of his friends on Wednesday morning and forcibly took away his bike for not paying the monthly installment, Bhanu Prakash said in the video. Later, he went to the church and hanged himself. Based on the video and complaint lodged by his family, the police altered the case and started an investigation. The accused named in the video have been asked to appear before investigation officer.
Suicide Helpline
OneLife: 78930-78930
Roshni, Hyderabad-based NGO: 040-66202000