'I am so deeply caught in a mire of debt that there is no way out. Therefore, my wife and I are ending our lives...', wrote Saurabh Babbar from Saharanpur in his suicide note. Troubled by debtors, Saurabh and his wife Mona ended their lives by jumping into the Ganges in Haridwar. Before their death, they took a final selfie, then sent it along with a suicide note to a friend's WhatsApp. Before taking the plunge into the Ganges, the couple also called their family.
Actually,
Saurabh
had a jewelry shop in Kishanpura, Saharanpur. But his business had been struggling for quite some time. During this period, he accumulated a debt of crores. The deadlines for the four or five committees (informal savings groups) he was running had arrived, but Saurabh didn't have enough money to pay. Meanwhile, debtors began coming to his house to collect unpaid amounts. Finally, Saurabh, tired of it all, ended his life along with his wife.
In the committee system, equal amounts of money are collected from all members, tokens are given out, and bids are placed. The person whose token is drawn first receives the collected money at interest. It has to be paid back within a fixed period. However, Saurabh was unable to return the committee money. It is said that Saurabh was running about 5 committees, each with 200 members, and each member had to pay an installment of ₹2000. All the committee durations had expired, and the money had to be given back to the people. The total debt had reached crores.
What was written in the suicide note?
In the suicide note which Saurabh Babbar sent to his friend via WhatsApp before jumping into the Ganges, he wrote - "I am so deeply caught in a mire of debt that there is no way out. Finally, my wife Mona Babbar and I are ending our lives. Our property in Kishanpura is for our two children. Our children will stay at their grandmother's house. We trust nobody else. We are leaving our kids in their hands before we go. When we commit suicide, we will share the photos on WhatsApp. We have given lenders relentless interest payments, but we can't do it anymore. Farewell to the world."
Source: aajtak
Before committing suicide, Saurabh Babbar made a last call to his home, a recording of which is going viral on social media. In this call, Saurabh is heard saying that everyone should be shown their video, they are in Haridwar, and they are ending their lives. They are about to jump from here.
The children were left at their grandparents' house
Saurabh Babbar, who lived in Kishanpura area in the Nagar Kotwali region, had a jewelry shop in his neighborhood. On Sunday night, Saurabh Babbar went to Haridwar with his wife Mona Babbar. On Monday, their bodies were found in the Ganges canal. Mona is still missing. Saurabh had a lot of people's money and a massive debt. They have two children whom they left at their grandparents' house before they died. However, nobody knew then that the couple would take such a drastic step.
The family is devastated and in tears after the incident. The sight of the innocent children's faces makes relatives unable to hold back their tears. This incident has shaken everyone deeply. The 7-year-old son performed the last rites for his father, Saurabh Babbar.
