V Harish, a 27‑year‑old finance influencer with 1.3 million Instagram followers, was found dead in his Chennai home on Oct 17, 2026 after a video uploaded by him last week claimed that his hard work had been stolen and that he was being harassed for money.
V Harish’s video, posted on a new Instagram handle after Meta had disabled his original account, showed him saying, ‘I have connections with MLAs and even the chief minister of Puducherry,’ and accusing the alleged harasser of demanding money to resolve a dispute.
Jason Samuel, CEO of venture studio Zemuria Inc., denied the allegations, stating in a tweet on Oct 20 that Harish was not a SEBI‑registered investment adviser and had only recently obtained an AMFI registration number.
Harish’s father, in a statement to the press, said the cyberbullying and extortion had forced his son into a state of severe stress, leading to his suicide.
Meta confirmed it had disabled Harish’s Instagram handle following Samuel’s complaints and that the platform had complied with a request from India’s data privacy regulator.
Delhi Police have opened a case file and investigators are reviewing Samuel’s claims, while SEBI has been asked to examine whether Harish misrepresented his regulatory status.