Film producer Kapali Mohan commits suicide

Kapali Mohan

Noted financier and film producer Kapali Mohan allegedly committed suicide in a hotel owned by him early on Monday morning, shortly after posting a selfie video about his dire financial problems.

V K Mohan (59), better known as Kapali Mohan, is suspected to have ended his life in room number 108 of the hotel located in Peenya around 2.30 am but the incident remained under wraps until 9 am. He stayed in the second-floor room for the past two days. A hotel employee, Manjunath, spoke to him on Sunday night, left him to sleep and returned. Mohan is suspected to have committed suicide shortly thereafter.

Around 9 am, the hotel staff tried to wake him up but he didn’t respond to the repeated knocks on the door. The staff grew suspicious and called the police. The door was broken open and Mohan was found hanging from the ceiling, a police officer said. His body was moved to MS Ramaiah Memorial Hospital.

Mohan lived in Sadashivanagar and was close to the family of Kannada thespian, the late Dr Rajkumar.

In the selfie video, Mohan said he had been pushed to bankruptcy because the Basaveshwara Bus Station in Peenya failed to take off. According to Mohan, he had won bids to rent shops in the bus station built seven years ago. But the bus station was shunned by passengers as it’s located one-and-a-half kilometres away from Tumakuru Road.

Mohan said he sold his properties to repay the bank loans that he had raised to rent the shops. He said he had requested the chief minister and transport minister for a waiver of the rent until the bus station attracted passengers.

Mohan used to visit the hotel twice a week and had recently roped in a man named Shivakumar as his business partner to run the property.

Two years ago, the CCB had seized Rs 9.33 lakh in cash from Mohan’s gambling den and the office of Balaji Finance. Police booked him under the Karnataka Money Lenders Act and the Karnataka Prohibition of Charging Exorbitant Interest Act following complaints that he lent money at exorbitant rates of interest.