BENGALURU: A 34-year-old man allegedly committed suicide in his rented house on Wednesday. However, prior to that, he released a WhatsApp video alleging that his house owner, the daughter and son-in-law harassed him that led him to take his own life.His wife Keerthi filed a complaint against the owners at Annapoorneshwarinagar police station.

The deceased is Punit Kumar R, a resident of Malagala in Naagarabhaavi 2nd Stage. He was a cab driver. According to the complaint, the house owner, Arase Gowda, and his daughter and son-in-law were the reason behind her husband’s death. According to Keerthi, the daughter would make sexual advances towards Kumar and would make make lewd gestures at him. Kumar would complain to Keerthi about the same but she told him to wait until they found a new house. On August 31 Keerthi went to her native place for Ganesh Chaturthi. On Wednesday, Kumar hanged himself in the house. Gowda informed Kumar’s family about his death.

According to the video Kumar released, he stated that Arase Gowda, and Gowda’s daughter and son-in-law harassed him to the extent that he slipped into depression.

He alleges in the video that the daughter secretly recorded a video of him bathing and circulated it. She body shamed him later. He alleged that on Wednesday, the trio harassed him and did not allow him to eat breakfast. When the trio left, he made the video. He also alleged in the video that the house owner would trouble him by not providing him with the basic facilities like water.

Kumar’s brother Mahadeva told The New Indian Express that he smelled a rat in the case. “How did the house owner know he had hung himself when the door was locked from the inside?”

Annapoorneshwarinagar police have seized the video and have taken up a case of abetment to suicide against the trio.

However, the video mentions Gowda’s name but not the name of the daughter or son-in-law. As Gowda has two daughters and sons-in-law, the police are trying to verify which one it was. Both his sons-in-law are police constables, with one working in Soladevanahalli police station while the other works in Madikeri.

If you are in emotional distress, help is available. You can get in touch with the SAHAI helpline at 080-25497777, open from from 10am to 10pm, Monday to Saturday, and 104 Arogya Sahayavani, which is available 24/7.