A former bank employee from Bengaluru shot himself after he suffered massive losses in the stock market. The incident took place on Sunday night in Chunchadenahalli near Kolar. The victim, identified as 44-year-old Prashanth Kumar, was a resident of Mahadevapura. He hailed from Bihar and is survived by his wife, two young children and his ageing parents.
Prashanth's body was discovered when a policeman noticed an abandoned bullet motorcycle at a bus stop. Taking a closer look, the policeman discovered Prashanth's body near the bike. He had a bullet injury on his right temple and preliminary investigation showed that he shot himself.
A suicide note written in English was also present in the scene. According to the Times of India, the note read, "I am in deep financial crisis after suffering loss in the stock market."
Prashanth's wife, Deepa, an engineer at a private firm, informed the police that he had quit his job at Standard Chartered six months ago and was slipping into a depression due to an increasing debt he was in as well as the joblessness.
"We would argue over the same issue. I felt he had taken a big risk by making huge investments in the stock market. My fears have come true," Deepa told the police, TOI reports.
One of Prashanth's friends explained how he was getting into the mounting debt.
"Last year, his (Prashanth) father Rana Vijay Pratap Singh had sold some properties to settle Kumar's debts. At one point of time, Kumar's debts ran up to Rs three crore and his father saved him. But he started investing again and took hand loans from financiers. Slowly, he suffered losses and creditors' visits to the bank looking for him became common, which may have humiliated him. Otherwise, we don't see any other reason for him to quit the job," Prashanth's friend told the police.
