A 38-year-old woman from Thane in Maharashtra, who had given her bank account details to a friend from her native place, committed suicide on Tuesday, August 25, after she found that multiple cases were registered against her. The account was allegedly being used for cybercrime. The deceased was Devika Armugam Pandaram, a resident of Sairam Society in Dombivli (East).

Officials from the Churu Cyber Cell police station in Rajasthan had visited Devika Pandaram’s home on August 8 and served her a notice to appear for questioning in a case registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology Act.

Her bank account in the Bank of Maharashtra was being used in an online fraud, they said.

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Seeking clarification, Devika Pandaram approached the Cyber Crime Department at the Thane Police Commissionerate, where she was informed that multiple cyber fraud cases had been registered against her across several states, including Haryana, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu.

Worried over the multiple cases that would require her to travel to various states for questioning, Pandaram used a sharp blade to cut her wrist and throat at around 4 pm the same day the police visited her home.

Relatives rushed her to a nearby private hospital, from where she was referred to the municipal-run Shastri Nagar Hospital, where doctors declared her brought dead, they added.

ACP Suhas Hemade, Thane City Police, told , “Her family has said that she had provided her bank account details to a friend from her native place. She did odd jobs, and her family says she was not aware what her friend was doing with her bank account.”

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ACP Hemade said that the police will be checking if she received any commission from her friend for allowing him to use her bank account. An FIR will be registered against the ‘friend’ if Devika’s family files a complaint.

Usually in mule accounts – accounts used to move fraudulently obtained money – the person gives access to their bank account in exchange for money. In some cases, however, the person is unaware that the account is being used for fraud.