Amid the ongoing controversy surrounding financial influencer V Harish's death by suicide, content creator Jason Samuel has broken his silence, saying he never intended for the situation to unfold this way, and claimed that he has now been receiving death threats.
On October 17, Samuel posted a video questioning the credentials of Harish, 27, alleging that the influencer provided personalised investment advice without holding a SEBI-registered Investment Adviser (RIA) licence and had misrepresented his credentials.
Harish, who ran 'Finance With Harish' and had more than 1.3 million followers on Instagram, died in Chennai on October 20.
Following his death, his father accused Samuel of cyberbullying, bringing the content creator under scrutiny.
Several social media users took to X, holding Samuel responsible. Responding to X users, Samuel said that he was deeply saddened, shocked and did not expect such drastic measure to happen.
In an exclusive conversation with NDTV Profit, Samuel, who also identifies himself as the CEO of Zemuria, said, "I grieve his loss. I never intended this. It was not my fault."
"No one asked for my version," he added.
Samuel claimed that he was getting thousands of death threats from strangers.
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"I am getting tens of messages every hour."
He also rejected the allegations made against him by Harish's father and social media users. "I never contacted, never extorted, never cyberbullied Harish."
Stating that he had no ill-will towards him, Samuel said, "I have zero disrespect towards him. In my video, I did not use any disrespectful terms for him."
On the substance of his video, Samuel stood by his claims.
"What he did was illegal. He had millions of followers and subscribers, and he gave mutual fund advice and direct fund advice, which is illegal. He did not have a SEBI licence."
A Message From A Mutual Friend
Samuel claimed that Harish tried contacting him through a mutual friend after the video was released, but he could not talk to him as he was busy.
He also shared a screenshot of instagram chat with the mutual friend who said that Harish wanted to have a short conversation with him about "the issue", adding that he had already told Harish it might not be possible.
To which, Samuel replied saying that he was in a meeting and would respond later.
The friend wrote again on Monday morning, and Samuel apologised late that night, saying he had been held up and would check his schedule the next day.
The chat does not refer to what Harish wanted to discuss.
On Tuesday morning, the friend messaged to inform Samuel that Harish had died.
Complaint And Case Status
Samuel said a complaint has been filed against him. "There is no FIR so far," he said.
PTI reported that police registered a case of unnatural death and are examining digital evidence.
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