Harassment by operators of online loan apps have claimed two lives in three days in Telangana.

Two days after a woman government employee committed suicide in Siddipet, a software engineer in Hyderabad also ended his life.

In both the cases, the victims felt humiliated after operators of online loan apps sent messages to their contacts for being defaulters.

Panditi Sunil (29) hanged himself at his residence in Kismatpur under the limits of Rajendernagar police station on Thursday. A native of Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, Sunil was working in a software firm in Hyderabad and was living with his wife and three-month-old son in Kismatpur.

His wife Ramya told police that operators of an online loan app were harassing him for repayment of Rs 70,000 instant loan. He felt humiliated when the operators of the app sent messages to people in his call list for defaulting on the loan.

Sunil used to obtain loans from app-based financers and repay them. However, due to job loss and financial problems during the lockdown, he could not repay the loans. He raised new loans to repay the old ones due to mounting interest but could not clear them either.

The techie had lost job during the lockdown. He recently landed a new job but committed suicide before joining. He reportedly sent a message to the new employer to give the job to some other person as he has decided to end his life.

Police registered a case on the complaint by Sunil's family and launched investigations. Rajendranagar Inspector Suresh said they were collecting details of the app-based financiers from the cyber-crime wing and will take action in the case.

This is the second such incident in Telangana in three days. A woman government employee in Siddipet committed suicide by consuming poison as she felt humiliated after app-based financiers defamed her for defaulting on loan repayment.

They reportedly sent messages to the people in her contact list with her photograph.

The 24-year-old woman had borrowed Rs three lakh from the online loan app over a period of time as the family was facing financial problems.

The woman had recently got the job of Agriculture Extension Officer.

The Siddipet police registered a case and launched the investigation. Finance Minister Harish Rao directed the police to take action against the guilty for exploiting those vulnerable.

In both the cases, the victims had given access to app-based financiers to their contacts in order to be eligible to get the loans.

This news piece may be triggering. If you or someone you know needs help, call any of these helplines: Aasra (Mumbai) 022-27546669, Sneha (Chennai) 044-24640050, Sumaitri (Delhi) 011-23389090, Cooj (Goa) 0832- 2252525, Jeevan (Jamshedpur) 065-76453841, Pratheeksha (Kochi) 048-42448830, Maithri (Kochi) 0484-2540530, Roshni (Hyderabad) 040-66202000, Lifeline 033-64643267 (Kolkata).