When poor financial decisions pushed Chandrasekhar off the cliff

Apart from running his cricket academy in Velachery, VB, as he was popularly known in cricketing circles, also owned the Kanchi Veerans franchise. Some believed that VB wasn’t keen on acquiring the franchise in the first place as he felt running a team was beyond his means, but he later felt he could turn it into a profitable venture.

A source close to the one-time swashbuckling cricketer said, “VB did not have the funds to pay for the franchise, but he took a loan and invested in it. However, the monthly instalments, coupled with mounting tax obligations, proved too much for him to handle. He had to mortgage his house and was under a lot of stress due to mounting debts. His health had also deteriorated; he had become frail. A month ago, VB had received a notice from the bank.”

The friend confirmed that VB had told his family about the existing Rs 3 crore-loan and opened up about the difficulties he was facing in repaying the instalments every month.

The police suspect that VB could have received a phone call from the bank asking him to pay his dues which could have triggered his suicide. The police are now checking his call records toknow if he was facing any kind of harassment from the bank.

On Thursday evening, the 57-year-old was scheduled to be on the commentary panel for the TNPL final on Thursday. But when the host broadcaster called him up, he had refused to answer the call, the police said.

Mylapore police inspector Senthil Murugan said VB’s wife Sowmya told investigators that her husband was depressed over the losses he had incurred while managing his cricket team. “Sowmya had gone to his room around 5.45 pm to serve him his evening tea. The room was locked from the inside. Since he did not respond to repeated knocks, she looked through the window and saw him hanging from the ceiling fan,” an officer said, recounting the sequence of events at VB’s house on Thursday.

Later, the family members broke open the door and their family doctor — who was rushed in — declared him dead and later the body was shifted to Royapettah government general hospital for autopsy.

Some sources who were aware of the developments drew parallels between VB’s demise and the suicide of Café Coffee Day owner VG Siddhartha.

A qualified engineer, VB, was a member of the state team that won the Ranji Trophy in 1987-88. The cricketing fraternity across the country was shocked to learn about Chandrasekhar’s death.

The Indian cricket board condoled his death and posted on its Twitter handle (@BCCI): “BCCI regrets to inform that former India opener VB Chandrasekhar is no more. Our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and his fans.”

Former India cricketer Rahul Dravid was among those who visited VB’s house on Friday to pay homage. His final rites will commence at 9 am on Saturday. The right-hander, who was only six days short of his 58th birthday, is survived by his wife and two daughters.