Cabbie takes video selfie before suicide over loan default

A 27-year-old cab driver committed suicide after taking a video selfie alleging harassment by bank officials, police said.  

Anil Kumar is believed to have hanged himself from a ceiling fan at his house at Benniganahalli, Baiyappanahalli, on Tuesday. His parents noticed his body around 8.30 pm. He was taken to Chinmaya Mission Hospital but it was too late.  

In the video that Kumar made moments before his death, he asked his  friends not to fall into the trap of bank loans or trust politicians. He then went on abusing and bashing bank officials who had harassed him.

Rs 5-lakh loan

Kumar's father Rajanna had taken a personal loan of Rs 5 lakh from the State Bank of Hyderabad five years ago and was repaying it in instalments. Meanwhile, Kumar attached his cab to a taxi-hailing firm and started repaying the loan. But in the past year, he defaulted on the loan repayment. Bank officials visited his house several times and pressured him to repay the loan. But Kumar still failed to make the repayment.  

Things came to a head a few days ago when bank officials showed up at Kumar's house and served him a notice, besides giving him an earful in public. He became depressed and took the extreme step, a senior police officer said.  

The Baiyappanahalli police have registered a case of unnatural death.