Hyderabad: Debts killed Deen Benedict

Hyderabad: The man who set himself ablaze in front of the Archbishop's house in Secunderabad has been identified as Deen Benedict, 40, of Tarnaka. Dean had run up huge debts to execute construction projects for the Catholic Health Association of India (CHAI) at Medchal. Neighbours said that a few days ago, some men had come to Deen's house and had picked up an argument about the unpaid debt. Officials from Gopalapuram police station think that Deen had a debt of around Rs 40 lakh, and was troubled as he could not pay it back.

“Since three months he was facing a financial crisis due to the construction project. He was probably troubled by the matter. Apart from the shop he was running he was executing real estate projects which must have led to the debt,” said the FIR prepared by Gopalapuram police. The father of three children, Deen left home on Saturday early in the morning saying that he was going to attend the morning Mass at St Mary's Baslica. “There is a Mass at St Mary’s Baslica at 6 am. Everyone thought he went to church,” said one of his relatives.  

Coincidentally, Deen’s mother-in-law passed away on Saturday. His wife Coleen and children went to her mother's house near Narayanguda. Neither his wife nor other relatives knew about Dean's death till Saturday night as they were in Narayanguda.   Dean’s elder brother Jerad Benedict said that Deen had not shown any signs of depression or panic when he met him a day before the incident. “I met him on Friday. He was fine and jovial as usual. I could not figure out that if he was under pressure,” said Jerad.

Dean was running a battery shop in the city. His relatives said that he was extremely pious, and that the financial crisis must have occurred due to the new projects he took up. Police suspects that Dean had taken loans from private financiers to complete his projects. The cops are now inquiring whether CHAI had not cleared his due bills, which forced him into debts.