GUNTUR: An undergraduate student ended his life allegedly due to harassment by operators of mobile loan applications, police said on Friday. The deceased has been identified as Sivaratri Siva, a B.Com student. The incident occurred at Narayanapuram village in Palnadu district.
Parents of the 21-year-old youngster alleged that their son took the extreme step after operators of a loan app harassed him to pay Rs 20,000 to clear a debt of Rs 8,000. Police are yet to confirm the involvement of loan app operators in the case.
A complaint was filed at the Dachepalli police station. As per the preliminary probe, Siva had borrowed money from several people in the village and was struggling to repay it. Police are yet to find out why the student had borrowed money.
Afraid that lenders would humiliate him for not clearing the debts, Siva committed suicide, police said.
Dachepalli station inspector Balanagi Reddy said, “We are trying to get information from his mobile phone. After proper investigation, we can ascertain the role of mobile loan apps.”
The incident comes just a day after a couple in Rajamahendravaram committed suicide allegedly as they were being harassed by mobile loan operators. Following the incident, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy directed officials to take action against loan apps operating in violation of Reserve Bank of India norms.