The suicide of a 27-year-old finance influencer in India has sparked widespread debate over cyberbullying and who should give financial advice. V Harish ran a hugely popular Instagram account called "Finance with Harish". This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing BBC News.
Harish was found dead on Tuesday morning at his home near Chennai, capital of the southern state of Tamil Nadu. His suicide came just weeks after his account was disabled by Meta following complaints of irregularities.
In a complaint lodged with the police, his father J Vinayagam alleged that his son took his life because of online harassment by Jason Samuel, a YouTuber and CEO of tech-centric venture studio Zemuria. Police arrested Samuel on Thursday under suspicion of trying to "extort money from Harish" and posting "defamatory videos against him on social media".
BBC Tamil has not been able to reach him for comment. Earlier, he denied wrongdoing in a post on X.
The case has brought into focus the growing influence of financial content creators in India, where millions of first-time investors increasingly turn to social media for market advice.
Harish began posting videos about finance and investing around five years ago, building a substantial online following. Over the years, he published more than 1,500 videos and amassed more than 1.3 million Instagram followers. He described himself as a financial adviser to "millionaires" and "high-net-worth individuals".
He often used music, film clips and photos of global political leaders to make dramatic videos while talking about the rise and fall of the share market and prices of gold and silver. The videos, which broke down financial issues in simple terms, became hugely popular as they coincided with a rapid expansion in India's retail investor base, especially since the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.
The country's largest stock exchange, the National Stock Exchange, said earlier this year it now had more than 130 million unique investors registered with it as opposed to under 30 million in 2019.
But in September, Meta took down Harish's Instagram page after receiving complaints he was not registered with Indian market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) — which is required under law to be able to offer investment advice or manage client portfolios.
A back-up account, which gained over 60,000 followers in a short time, was also subsequently taken down following complaints from social media users and others. A few other accounts in his name remain on Instagram, though with much smaller followings — and it's not clear who runs them.
According to Harish's friends and family, he recorded a video message before his death in which he said that "five years of hard work has been stolen" from him, news channel NDTV reported. The video, which has also been shared widely on social media, shows him speaking in Tamil and then switching to English to say "I'm very sorry" to his parents, sister, friends and followers.
Police say Harish's father J Vinayagam has blamed "cyberbullying, defamatory social media posts and repeated blocking of his channels" for his son's suicide and named Jason Samuel in his complaint registered at Kanathur police station near Chennai.
Samuel had posted a video on his YouTube channel on 18 October questioning Harish's credentials since he did not have Sebi or Amfi (Association of Mutual Funds in India) registrations. In it, he mentioned that Harish's Instagram account had been disabled following complaints.
This, Vinayagam says, triggered severe online harassment and led to pressures that drove his son to take his own life. "We demand that a proper investigation be conducted and legal action be taken against Jason Samuel and his accomplices, who spread defamation on social media and caused mental distress through cyberbullying," his complaint states.
A police statement says Vinayagam's complaint was registered under "abetment to suicide" and preliminary investigations found Samuel had a "role in this case". "[Samuel] will be produced before court and sent to judicial custody," it says.
Samuel has defended the video in which he flagged Harish's lack of credentials saying he was acting in the consumer interest. In a statement on X, Samuel said he was "deeply saddened, heavily grieving, shocked and frozen at what has happened and I mourn the loss of life".
He however, rejected allegations of "cyber-bullying" Harish. "I have not cyber-bullied him. I pointed out his lack of licence and authority, misrepresentation of licence and fraud... his illegal activity. I literally asked him in the video to come back and do this with a proper Sebi licence. I never intended or expected this drastic measure to happen and I mourn the loss," he wrote.