The woman who died by suicide, apparently after facing harassment through loan apps, had downloaded 34 dubious mobile applications, including loan apps, it has emerged.
The 31-year-old homemaker and mother of two children was found hanging in her house at Aruvappara in Vengoor, near Perumbavoor, on Tuesday. The Ernakulam Rural police have formed a special investigation squad led by Perumbavoor ASP Mohit Rawat to investigate the case, which was first registered for unnatural death.
“We have now altered the sections and included serious charges such as criminal intimidation, cheating, and abetment to suicide besides sections under the IT Act. The victim was caught in a vicious cycle of debt trap and did not reach out to our cyber volunteers or the police before taking such an extreme step,” said District Police Chief (Ernakulam Rural) Vaibhav Saxena.
International angle
The victim had been receiving intimidating text messages from at least five suspected loan apps for a while. Some of the WhatsApp messages were from SIM cards registered in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. There is a definite international angle to the whole incident. However, they probably had aides within the country who helped them withdraw money through ATMs, said Mr. Saxena.
Her bank account showed over 100 transactions of a few thousands of rupees each in the last 10 days alone. Besides, she was found to have taken ₹66,000 through a formal lending avenue, which the police think was used to settle her dues with loan apps. Even afterwards, she was probably harassed through the loan apps with demands of more money under pretexts such as processing fee.
Downloaded via links
Most of the apps found in her mobile phone were not available on Play Store. She probably was lured by advertisements on social media and downloaded them through shared links. That would have given the accused access to her Aadhaar card and contact lists on her mobile, which is the modus operandi followed by such rackets.
She was even threatened with her morphed photo probably using her profile picture. The victim had activated the option of WhatsApp messages disappearing within 24 hours. So, police are now trying to retrieve the deleted messages by reaching out to the social media platform.
Those in distress or having suicidal tendencies may seek help and counselling by calling any of the following numbers: DISHA-1056, 0471-2552056, State’s health helpline 104, Maithri – 0484-2540530, Thanal Suicide Prevention Centre – 0495-2760000.
