Losses, rental costs drive salon owner to suicide

Rajkot: A young entrepreneur’s dreams of doing big ended tragically as a nightmare when rising overhead costs of running his unisex salon on Rajkot’s posh Amin Marg coupled with zero business due to lockdown forced 22-year-old Hiren Jetubhai Rathod alias Harry to end life on Monday.
Hiren was found hanging inside his shop Modern Hair Salon in Trisha Plaza around 9.30am by his friend Keval Kariya, who had come to meet Hiren but found the shutters of the salon closed. When he opened the shutter he saw his friend hanging from the ceiling and informed Hiren’s family and the police.
Hiren’s family lives in Kiran Society on Kotahriya road, about 5km from the salon.
Police investigation revealed that Hiren, also a trained tattoo artist, had opened this unisex salon about 18 months back and was paying high rent for the premises. The rental of the salon kept piling up over last three months, said sources. Initially the business was good, but following the lockdown in March last week, Hiren’s income was down to nil.
But worse was yet to come. Despite the relaxation by the government, people were avoiding to come to salon fearing infection. As as result Hiren was left with rising debt with no sign of revenue generation. This seems to have triggered Hiren’s extreme step, said police.
Police said that Hiren’s father Jitubhai also owns a barber shop. Hiren also has a younger sister.