What led Durga rao and Ramya lakshmi to leave their 2-year-old and 4-year-old children in the hands of others and take their own lives? The children who are unaware of what truly happened to their parents believe that their parents went on a trip and will be back in a few days, and they expressed this belief to a reporter during an interview. Could this tragic outcome have been prevented given the circumstances they faced?
To provide some context, Durga rao, who originally came from a village called Labbarthi, moved to Rajahmundry 10 years ago for employment. He married Ramya lakshmi 6 years ago, and together they have two kids Naga sai , Likitha. Durga rao worked as a painter, and Ramya lakshmi earned money by tailoring, and both contributed to the family’s finances. However, they experienced some financial difficulties at one point and decided to take out a loan.
Th
ese days, getting a loan is easy, with several apps available online that provide loans ranging from a few thousands of rupees without requiring any guarantees. All they need is proof of identity, access to some of the information on your smartphone.
Durga rao borrowed around Rs. 30,000 from one of these loan apps. However, he began experiencing trouble when he missed a few loan installments, and the app operators started threatening him by sending him photoshopped versions of his and his wife’s photos that they had stolen from his phone gallery.
Despite paying a few installments of Rs. 2000, Durga rao and his wife continued to receive threats from the loan app operators, who claimed that the morphed images of the couple would be posted on social media. Durga rao began working as a food delivery app partner to earn extra income and pay off the loan quickly. However, the threats did not cease, and the app operators warned that they would post morphed images and videos of Ramya lakshmi on social media and send them to her relatives if the loan was not repaid with interest within two days.
On September 5, 2022, the couple attended an event in Mogalturu in West Godavari district. After the event, Ramya lakshmi called her brother-in-law, telling him that she and her husband were going to commit suicide and asking their family to take care of their children. The couple had already ingested poison by the time their relatives arrived at the lodge. They were taken to the hospital, but unfortunately, they died during treatment.
Could this tragedy have been prevented?
The most effective solution they did not consider was approaching the police the moment they received their first threat. They could have asked for help from the police at any point during the entire ordeal, not just once or twice. It is never too late to seek help.
A few minutes before committing suicide, the couple should have thought about their children instead of just their reputation and found an alternative solution. No reputation is worth more than life. Regardless of how dire the situation is, death should never be considered an option.
A few days before their death, when they thought the morphed images and videos would damage their reputation, they could have taken a different approach. They didn’t have to view it as an attack on their reputation since the morphed images were not genuine. Instead, they could have informed their acquaintances, friends, and relatives that someone was spreading morphed visuals and requested that they not share or forward them further.
Several days earlier, when they installed the loan app, they should have paid attention to the app’s access requests. Why does an app that provides loans need to access the gallery and contact list? Although the victim cannot be entirely blamed for this, awareness about these issues is lacking.
Before installing an app that could potentially impact our lives, such as a loan app, it is necessary to carefully analyze the features of the app and what kind of impact it had on other similar users of the app.
