Daily Times

An unemployed man in Rawalpindi has died – purportedly through suicide – due to “threats” made by loan apps for failing to pay back Rs800,000 in debts, it emerged on Wednesday.

Mohammad Masood, 42, had taken two loans from separate mobile apps, one of which had seen its principal plus interest amass to Rs0.7m, his wife, who wished not to be named, told media. She said her husband had lost his job six months ago, leaving the family unable to pay for their children’s school fees and rent. The wife recalled that Masood had initially taken a loan of Rs13,000 from EasyLoan app, which quickly soared to Rs100,000 a few days later due to interest. To pay back that loan, the financially stricken man took another loan from Bharosa app, which also rose to Rs700,000 in a few weeks, she said. Masood’s wife further said that the apps had initially said that Masood was supposed to pay back the loan with an interest payment of 14 per cent but it “kept on increasing day by day”.

The wife said that the officials from the app “used to call daily to threaten and scare” the family of police action against them if the loan repayment was delayed. The wife added that her husband committed suicide after growing tired of the threats. Meanwhile, Masood’s brother, Muzammil Husain, said he has filed a report at the Race Course police station to inform them of the suicide, which he said has left Masood’s two children “without support”. He lamented that the app officials were still threatening the family and drew attention to his sister-in-law’s demand on social media that action must be taken against such loan apps. The report filed by Husain on Monday, has been filed under Section 174 (police to inquire to report in suicide, etc) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Separately, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has also initiated an inquiry against both the applications.