The Kerala police on Thursday said they suspect that the unethical loan recovery tactics used by an instant loan app's management may have led to the suicide of a four-member family in Ernakulam district two days ago.
Varappuzha residents Nijo (40), his wife Shilpa (30) and their children, Able (8) and Aaron (6), were found dead by their family members at their residence on Tuesday morning.
The relatives have lodged a complaint with the police alleging that the instant loan app's depraved tactics to recover a loan borrowed by the family is likely to have led to them taking the extreme step.
Local residents have constituted an action council, seeking justice for the family.
They alleged that thugs online blackmailed the victims by sending morphed, obscene pictures to their contacts.
Launching an investigation into the incident, Ernakulam rural police said Shilpa had taken a loan of Rs 9,300 using an instant loan app.
When the payment was delayed, voice messages in another language were allegedly sent to her, threatening that her morphed photos would be sent to her close contacts.
Three persons who were on her mobile phone contact list even received such morphed photos, and information about this might have been the trigger for them to take the extreme step, a police officer told PTI.
The officer said the family was in a financial crisis, and that could be the reason why Shilpa took the personal loan using the app.
He said the police were in the process of collecting the details of the online money-lending app through which she had taken the loan.
The cyber police have been engaged to unlock the mobile phones of the deceased to find out more details including that of the loan app, the officer said.
The fraudsters are suspected to have accessed the victim's contact list after she downloaded the app.
The couple was found hanging, while the children were poisoned, the police had said.
