The first official victim of the share market crash, Raja Dayabhai Desai (38), a diamond broker, tried to commit suicide on Sunday by drinking acid.
Raju Parulekar & Surendra Gangan
Mumbai: The first official victim of the share market crash, Raja Dayabhai Desai (38), a diamond broker, tried to commit suicide on Sunday by drinking acid.
Desai, a Walkeshwar resident, booked himself into a guesthouse in Kalyan and drank an acid used in the diamond industry.
A friend, Raju Waghani, found him and rushed him to Sridevi Hospital in Kalyan. After first aid, he was shifted to Elizabeth Hospital in Walkeshwar on Monday. His condition was described as stable on Tuesday by a hospital official.
An officer from the Malabar Hill police station told DNA, “Desai’s family has refused to reveal the motive for his attempted suicide, but neighbours and some acquaintances said he was under severe financial stress. The losses in the share market must have been the proverbial last straw.”
According to police, Desai owed Rs35 crore to a diamond trader in Surat. He also had to pay Rs10 crore to an angadia, one of the secretive couriers used by the diamond trade.
Experts are not certain that the stock market crash and current uncertainty warrants such drastic action. Shahina Mukadam, research head at IDBI, said, “There are two categories of investors in the retail arena. There are investors and then there are speculators. The latter, who leverage their positions in the market, have been hit the hardest.”
Mukadam said that even those who entered the market only two months ago when the Sensex was at around 10,500 and have held on to their positions have not lost in this collapse.
“Everybody who made money during the spiral is feeling the pinch of the notional loss suffered from peak levels,” she said. “But if after taking the risk as a speculator a person attempts suicide, it is more of a personality trait.”
Police believe Desai was also involved in a legal dispute over a hill station property. He also owed Rs5 crore each to five people. The stock market collapse added to his woes, though the quantum of his loss is unknown.
Desai’s wife refused to comment on the matter but said he had no enemies and no disputes. His father-in-law was heard telling a group of creditors gathered at the hospital that Desai was out of danger and a settlement would be worked out.
Two of his brothers have arrived from the US to be with Desai’s wife and two children. Desai operated from the ground floor of Pancharatna Towers at Opera House. He specialised in the trade of ‘taper’ diamonds. The acid he drank is used to clean these diamonds.
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