In separate incidents, a 50-year-old woman in Hassan district and a 35-year-old farmer in Dharwad district allegedly died by suicide reportedly due to pressure from financial institutions and private moneylenders, police said on Wednesday.
In the first incident, the woman was allegedly being harassed by microfinance staff over pending loan repayments.
Alur police inspector B Janabai said: “The woman had taken a loan of ₹2 lakh from two private microfinance companies and had been repaying weekly installments of ₹2,400. However, after missing a payment last week, she reportedly panicked at the prospect of facing verbal abuse from loan recovery agents, he said.
“The woman died at around 10 am on Tuesday. According to her family, the private financial institution representatives used to visit the village weekly to collect instalments. She had defaulted on her payment last week and feared humiliation from the staff. Upon hearing that the recovery agents had arrived in the village, she locked herself inside her house and took her own life,” he said.
Her body was sent for autopsy at Alur Taluk Government Hospital before being handed over to her family. A case of unnatural death has been registered at the Alur police station, the officer said.
“We are verifying her call records and collecting information on whether she faced any harassment from the microfinance staff. If evidence emerges, we will take action against those responsible,” Janabai added.
Following the incident, a villager told HT that the microfinance staff, who had arrived in the village to pressurise her, fled the scene after she died.
In another case on the same day, a 35-year-old farmer from Navalgund taluk, Dharwad district, allegedly died by suicide in his field. He had reportedly taken an agricultural loan of ₹3 lakh from a private bank and an additional ₹2 lakh as a personal loan, struggling to repay due to crop failure.
“The farmer had taken approximately ₹5 lakh in loans to cultivate his sorghum field. However, due to adverse climatic conditions, his crop failed, pushing the family into financial distress. Unable to bear the mounting pressure, he consumed poison in his field on Tuesday,” Dharwad superintendent of police B Gopal said.
“When his family found him, they rushed him to Navalgund Government Hospital for initial treatment before transferring him to Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) in Hubballi. Despite medical efforts, he did not survive,” he said..
His mother has lodged a police complaint alleging harassment by private moneylenders. “Private moneylenders were constantly pressuring my son to repay the dues at the earliest. He fell into depression due to their continuous harassment and ultimately took this extreme step. The police should take strict action against them,” she said.
An unnatural death case has been registered at Navalgund police station, and investigations are underway, the officer added.