Harassed by loan sharks, Tamil Nadu filmmaker-producer Ashok Kumar commits suicide

After being harassed by money lenders, film producer-director B. Ashok Kumar committed suicide in his residence in Alwarthirunagar near Valasaravakkam on Tuesday.

In his final handwritten letter, Kumar clearly mentions well-known financier based in Madhurai with whom his production company has been taking loans and charging exorbitant interest from them as well.

According to Hindu report, an official of Valasaravakkam Police Station said Ashok Kumar, committed suicide by hanging in his multi-storey apartment at Arcot Road in Alwarthirunagar. 

His suicide note even mentioned, that he had further claimed that it was a big mistake to have associated himself with the financier for more than seven years and that he had paid huge sums of interest on the loan as well. For the past six months, he was harassed and threatened by the financier, who claimed to have political clout and also was influential in the police and film circuit.

The Valasaravakkam Police sent Ashok Kumar's body to the Government Royapettah Hospital for postmortem.

Ashok Kumar has co-produced many films with his cousin Sasikumar including Eesan, Poraali and the yet-to-be-released Kodi Veeran.

After his sucide, Sasikaran has also registered a complaint at the police station and told media he was in depression because of the financial pressures.

Reports also suggest that Sasikumar’s Kodiveeran is set to release on November 30 but Ashok Kumar couldn’t settle the money he borrowed. Not just that the financier allegedly threatened the co-producer saying that the women and elderly members in the family would be kidnapped.