Hassan financier calls SP, kills wife, daughter, himself

MYSURU: A 40-year-old financier allegedly killed his wife and daughter before committing suicide in his Hassan residence on Monday.
Jayashankar called up district police chief Raman Gupta before he strangulated his wife Karuna alias Ramya, 35, and daughter Bhoomika, 7, with a rope and later hanged himself from the ceiling hook in the hall.
SP Gupta told TOI: “Jayashankar called me around 11.15am to say he’s in financial trouble and needed help.I asked him for his address, dissuaded him from the extreme step, and promised to resolve the problem. Within 10 minutes of that call, I sent police sub-inspector Jeevan to his house and he broke open the door. It was too late.”
Police said Jayashankar, from Sangamesha Layout, would borrow money from a fellow financier, Raghavendra, and lend it to others at a higher interest rate. Police said Jayashankar had borrowed Rs 18 lakh from Raghu and returned it three months ago. But Raghu was allegedly demanding an interest of Rs 3 lakh on that amount.
Jayashankar’s death note allegedly blamed Raghu for landing him and his family in dire straits. Raghu has since been arrested.
SP Gupta said he has set up a special team to rein in financiers who have been charging exorbitant interest rate and appealed to people not to fall into the web of easy loans with high interest rate. “People can complain to us. We’ll arrest such financiers,” the officer said.
A postmortem on the bodies was conducted at Hassan District Hospital.