‘Finance With Harish’ creator V Harish, 27, dies near Chennai; father alleges cyberbullying by Jason Samuel, who denies it

V Harish, the 27-year-old finance influencer behind “Finance With Harish” on Instagram and YouTube, has died near Chennai. His father has alleged that fellow content creator Jason Samuel, the CEO of venture studio Zemuria Inc, cyberbullied and threatened his son in the days before his death. Samuel denies the allegations. Harish had built a following of more than 13 lakh (1.3 million) on Instagram before his accounts were blocked.

Police were informed of the death on Tuesday, October 20, PTI reported. Kanathur police first registered a case of unnatural death. On Wednesday, October 21, they added a charge of abetment to suicide under Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, based on a complaint from Harish’s father, The Times of India and South First reported.

Harish, from Puducherry, had spent five years making videos on personal finance and investments. On October 18, Samuel posted a video of more than an hour questioning his credentials. In it, Samuel alleged that Harish gave investment advice without registering with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) as an investment adviser, and that he had misrepresented his registration with the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI). Police said Harish’s main channel had been mass-reported and blocked in September, and that a new channel he started was later taken down too.

In his complaint, Harish’s father alleged that Samuel targeted his son through defamatory posts, videos and threats, causing him severe mental distress. According to India Today, the complaint also alleges that a demand for ₹3 crore was made against Harish and that Samuel threatened to get all his social media accounts blocked, including any new ones. In a recording made before his death, Harish alleged that he had been asked for money to stop further videos “exposing” him, South First reported. None of these allegations has been tested in court.

In that video, Harish spoke about what the dispute had done to his work. “My hard work of the last five years was stolen,” he said, India Today reported.

Samuel has denied cyberbullying Harish. “I am deeply saddened, heavily grieving, shocked and frozen at what has happened and I mourn the loss of life. I have not cyber-bullied him,” he wrote on X on Tuesday.

In the same post, Samuel said he had only pointed out Harish’s lack of a SEBI licence and the misrepresentation of his AMFI credentials, adding: “I literally asked him in the video to come back and do this with a proper SEBI license.” In another post he wrote: “i never reached out/contacted, threatened, or asked for this.” When an X user asked him on Wednesday whether he had demanded ₹3 crore from Harish, Samuel replied: “no.”

Police said they would examine Harish’s video, preserve digital evidence and look into how his accounts came to be blocked. They are preparing to summon a fellow influencer named in the complaint for questioning, The Times of India reported, and an investigating officer said others would be added to the case if their role was established.

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