CHENNAI: A 37-year-old medical representative died of suicide near Tambaram after he accumulated huge losses in online gambling and faced harassment by online loan representatives as he was unable to repay Rs 20 lakh that he had borrowed.
The deceased was identified as Vinoth Kumar, from Ganapathy colony in Madambakkam near Tambaram. Vinoth was working as a medical representative in the city and is survived by his wife Lalitha and two sons. Police said they found a suicide note in which Vinoth asked the government to ban online gambling to prevent further loss of lives.
“On Friday evening Vinoth stayed back in the house after his wife and children had stepped outside to meet a relative. At around 9 pm when they returned home, Vinoth’s wife Lalitha found him dead in the room,” said the police.
“He has asked the representatives of the online loan providing applications to spare his family. He has also sought an apology from his children and wife for leaving them,” said a senior police officer.
Police said Vinoth was addicted to online gambling and borrowed money through quick online apps to meet daily expenses and for playing online gambling. Recently, he faced harassment from operators of online loan apps as he could not pay the exorbitant rate of interest. He was depressed for the last few months.
Speaking to the media, Lalitha said, “The only purpose of online loan lending apps and online gambling apps is to take people’s lives.” The Selaiyur police have sent the body for postmortem to the Chromepet Government Hospital.
(Assistance for those having suicidal thoughts is available on helpline 104 and Sneha suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050)