YouTuber arrested after popular Indian finance influencer's suicide

YouTuber arrested after popular Indian finance influencer's suicide

V Harish ran a hugely popular Instagram handle called "Finance with Harish"

The suicide of a 27-year-old finance influencer in India has become entangled in accusations of cyberbullying and has sparked debate over who should be allowed to give financial advice to investors.

V Harish, who operated a widely followed Instagram account called "Finance with Harish", was discovered dead on Tuesday morning at his home near Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu in southern India.

His death came only weeks after Meta disabled his account following complaints about irregularities.

In a police complaint, his father J Vinayagam alleged that his son died by suicide because of online harassment from Jason Samuel, a YouTuber and chief executive of the tech-focused venture studio Zemuria.

Police detained Samuel on Thursday evening on suspicion of attempting to "extort money from Harish" and posting "defamatory videos against him on social media".

He had earlier denied any wrongdoing in a post on X.

The case has highlighted the expanding reach of financial content creators in India, where millions of first-time investors are increasingly relying on social media for market guidance.

Harish started posting finance and investing videos about five years ago and built up a large online audience.

Over time, he uploaded more than 1,500 videos and gathered more than 1.3 million Instagram followers. He described himself as a financial adviser to "millionaires" and "high-net-worth individuals".

He frequently used music, film clips and images of world political leaders to create dramatic videos while discussing the rise and fall of the stock market and the prices of gold and silver.

The videos, which explained financial topics in simple language, became extremely popular as they coincided with a sharp rise in India's retail investor base, especially since the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.

Earlier this year, the National Stock Exchange, India's biggest stock exchange, said it now had more than 130 million unique investors registered with it, compared with fewer than 30 million in 2019.

But in September, Meta removed Harish's Instagram page after receiving complaints that he was not registered with the Indian market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), which is legally required to offer investment advice or manage client portfolios.

A backup account, which quickly attracted more than 60,000 followers, was also later taken down.

A few other accounts under his name still remain on Instagram, though with much smaller followings, and it is unclear who operates 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, NDTV reported.

The video, which has also spread widely on social media, shows him speaking in Tamil before switching to English to say "I'm very sorry" to his parents, sister, friends and followers.

Meta removed Harish's account after complaints that he was not registered with Sebi, which is required under law to be able to offer investment advice or manage client portfolios.

Police say Harish's father J Vinayagam blamed "cyberbullying, defamatory social media posts and repeated blocking of his channels" for his son's suicide and named Jason Samuel in his complaint filed at Kanathur police station near Chennai.

Samuel had posted a video on his YouTube channel on 18 October questioning Harish's credentials because he did not have Sebi or Amfi (Association of Mutual Funds in India) registrations. In the video, he said Harish's Instagram account had been disabled after complaints.

Vinayagam says this triggered intense online harassment and created 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 says.

A police statement says Vinayagam's complaint was registered under "abetment to suicide" and that 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 raised concerns about 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".

However, he denied the 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.