CHENNAI: A 37-year-old man died by suicide in his home at Muthapudupet near Avadi on Thursday night after the agents of a loan app harassed him and circulated his morphed photograph to his family members after he defaulted on paying the loan.

The deceased was identified as R Sathya Narayanan. He was working as a driver at a private company in Kattur area and lived with his wife and two children at a rented house, police said.

Investigations revealed that Sathya Narayanan had taken a loan of Rs 1 lakh through an app but defaulted on paying the amount. He started receiving obscene messages from various numbers, and then explicit images of him which the app agents threatened to share with the contacts on his phone.

Police sources said some of the morphed pictures were sent to some of his relatives and friends on Wednesday, after which the victim consumed poison. With the help of relatives, his wife rushed him to a private hospital, from where he was later shifted to another hospital in Porur for further treatment. However, he died without responding to treatment.

The Muthapudhupet police have registered a case based on a complaint from his family members and are investigating. Police said that they would seek the assistance of the cybercrime wing to trace the persons who sent the obscene messages.