MUMBAI: A 50-year-old school teacher, who was allegedly being troubled over a loan, jumped to his death from the Atal Setu, the country’s longest sea bridge between south Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, an official said on Sunday.
The man, a resident of Alibag in Maharashtra's Raigad district, died by suicide near Ulwe, close to the Nhava Sheva end of the sea bridge, on Friday morning, the official said.
His family told the police that he had borrowed money through an instant loan app last month to clear some debt and was struggling to pay an outstanding of Rs 12,000.
As he was unable to pay, recovery agents of the loan app company had been calling him over the past week and allegedly threatening to shame him, the official said.
The recovery agents subsequently allegedly circulated the primary school teacher’s morphed images among his contacts and in WhatsApp groups, his family told the police.
According to the police, the man reached the Atal Setu in a car, alighted and plunged into the waters on Friday. Police launched a search after surveillance camera footage captured his suicide.
His body was found the next day near Nhava creek, about 12 km from the spot where he dived from the bridge, the official said.