he said that "five years of hard work has been stolen" from him.
A YouTuber has been arrested after a popular Indian finance influencer’s suicide.
V Harish, who ran the popular Instagram account Finance with Harish, was found dead at his home near Chennai on October 20.
His death came weeks after Meta disabled his Instagram account following complaints about alleged irregularities.
His father, J Vinayagam, has since accused YouTuber Jason Samuel of online harassment, claiming it contributed to his son’s death.
Samuel, the CEO of tech-focused venture studio Zemuria, was arrested on October 22 on suspicion of attempting to “extort money from Harish” and posting “defamatory videos against him on social media”.
Samuel has previously rejected allegations that he had cyberbullied Harish.
The case has drawn attention to the growing influence of financial content creators in India, where millions of people increasingly rely on social media for information about investing, alongside concerns about the regulation of financial advice and the impact of online harassment.
Harish began publishing videos about finance and investing around five years ago, gradually building a substantial online following.
He produced more than 1,500 videos and attracted over 1.3 million Instagram followers, describing himself as a financial adviser to “millionaires” and “high-net-worth individuals”.
His content frequently used music, film clips and photographs of global political leaders to create dramatic videos about movements in the stock market and fluctuations in gold and silver prices.
By explaining financial topics in accessible language, he attracted a large audience during a period of rapid growth in India’s retail investment market.
The expansion accelerated after the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, as more people began participating in the stock market. India’s National Stock Exchange said earlier in 2026 that it had more than 130 million unique registered investors.
However, Harish’s growing popularity faced scrutiny over his professional credentials.
In September, Meta disabled his Instagram account after receiving complaints that he was not registered with India’s Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), a requirement for providing certain regulated investment advice or managing client portfolios.
A backup account subsequently attracted more than 60,000 followers in a short period before it was also taken down following complaints from social media users and others.
Several other accounts using Harish’s name remain on Instagram, although they have much lower followings. It is unclear who operates them.
NDTV reported that Harish’s friends and family said he recorded a video message before his death, where he said that “five years of hard work has been stolen” from him.
In his complaint to police, Vinayagam blamed “cyberbullying, defamatory social media posts and repeated blocking of his channels” for his son’s death, naming Samuel.
On October 18, Samuel published a YouTube video questioning Harish’s professional credentials. He also referred to the disabling of Harish’s Instagram account following complaints.
Vinayagam alleges that the video triggered further online harassment and contributed to the pressures that led his son to take his own life.
His complaint said: “We demand that a proper investigation be conducted and legal action be taken against Jason Samuel and his accomplices, who spread defamation on social media and caused mental distress through cyberbullying.”
According to a police statement, the complaint was registered under “abetment to suicide”. Preliminary investigations also found that Samuel had a “role in this case”.
On X, Samuel said he was “deeply saddened, heavily grieving, shocked and frozen at what has happened and I mourn the loss of life”.
However, he rejected allegations that he had engaged in cyberbullying:
“I have not cyber-bullied him. I pointed out his lack of licence and authority, misrepresentation of licence and fraud… his illegal activity.
“I literally asked him in the video to come back and do this with a proper SEBI licence. I never intended or expected this drastic measure to happen and I mourn the loss.”
The allegations against Samuel have not been established in court, and the investigation into Harish’s death remains central to determining the circumstances surrounding the case.
