Four financers booked for Telangana family's suicide pact

Vijayawada, Jan 10:  The Vijayawada police on Monday booked a case against four financers whose alleged harassment drove a family of four to commit suicide two days ago.

On the basis of a selfie video of the head of the family, Puppala Suresh, the police registered a case of abetment of suicide against the financers and took up the investigation.

A police team has been sent to Telangana to arrest the financers -- Ganesh, Vineeta, Chandrasekhar and Gnaneswar. The accused from Nizamabad and Nirmal towns of Telangana are reportedly absconding after the selfie video of Suresh became public.

Suresh, a businessman and native of Nizamabad, alleged in the video that the harassment by the financers for repayment of loans and interest forced them to take the extreme step.

Puppala Suresh, 57, P. Sri Latha, 49, P. Akhil, 24, and P. Ashish, 26, committed suicide in Vijayawada on Saturday.

While Sri Latha and Ashish killed themselves by taking some injections, Suresh and Akhil jumped into the Krishna river.

According to the police, the family came to Vijayawada on January 6 to have ‘darshan' at the Kanaka Durga temple and checked into Sri Kanyaka Parameswari Choultry.

The bodies of Sri Latha and Ashish were found in the room. The police suspect that they took some injections laced with poisonous substance to end their lives. Suresh and Akhil allegedly jumped into the Krishna. Their bodies were retrieved from the river.

Police investigations revealed that before resorting to the extreme step, Suresh wrote a suicide note and also recorded a selfie video, mentioning the names of those who harassed them to recover the loans.

Suresh alleged that Gnaneswar mounted pressure on him to pay Rs 40 lakh and threatened that if he failed to repay the amount, his house will be seized.

The businessman said Ganesh too harassed him though he had paid him Rs 82 lakh. Suresh had borrowed the money for business after suffering losses due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He said he had been paying huge interests to the financers, but they continued harassing him. He also claimed that there were many victims like him.

This is the second such incident in a week. A 45-year-old businessman, his wife and their 12-year-old twin daughters had immolated themselves at their house in Paloncha in Telangana's Bhadradri Kothagudem district on January 3.

In the suicide notes and selfie video, recovered later by the police, M. Naga Ramakrishna alleged that they were resorting to the extreme step due to the harassment by Vanama Raghavendra Rao, son of Kothagudem MLA Vanama Venkateswara Rao.

The businessman, who had debts to the tune of Rs 30 lakh, alleged that Raghavendra had asked him to bring his wife to Hyderabad. He said Raghavendra tried to use his political clout and money power to satisfy his carnal desire.

Ramakrishna also blamed his mother Suryavati and his sister K. Lova Madhavi, saying they tried to do injustice to him in sharing property.

After evading arrest for few days, Raghavendra was finally apprehended on January 7. A court on Saturday sent him to judicial custody for 14 days.