Kollywood film producer and director B. Ashok Kumar allegedly committed suicide on Tuesday at his residence in Chennai’s Alwarthirunagar. There were reports that he was being harassed and threatened by a financier he had been associated with for more than seven years. Ashok Kumar is the cousin of popular Tamil cinema director Sasikumar. He co-produced his films including 'Eesan', 'Poraali' and the yet-to-be-released 'Kodi Veeran'.
An official of Valasaravakkam Police Station said Ashok Kumar, a native of Madurai, committed suicide by hanging himself in his apartment at Arcot Road in Alwarthirunagar. According to his suicide note, a film financier based in Mumbai has charged him exorbitant interest.
In his suicide note, he claimed that it was his biggest mistake to have associated himself with the financier for more than seven years and he had paid exorbitant interest on the loans. For the past six months, he was harassed and threatened by the financier, who claimed to have a political influence and also had contacts in the police and film industry.
The Valasaravakkam Police sent the body to the Government Royapettah Hospital for postmortem. A case has been registered against the financier under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the IPC.
