A 23-year-old man has committed suicide in Balaka after he was told to pay back about K100,000 which he allegedly stole from his friend’s mobile money account.
The deceased has been identified as Desire Nsapato from Chilembwe Village in Traditional Authority Nchiramwera in Thyolo District.
Inspector Gladson M’bumpha who is Balaka Police Station Public Relations Officer said the incident happened at Chauluka Village in Traditional Authority Nsamala in Balaka District.
He said Nsapato had a close friend by the name of Patrick Katupi from the same village, Chilembwe, in Thyolo District.
On August 12, 2023, Nsapato borrowed a phone from his friend Katupi for his personal use and in the phone, there was Airtel Money amounting to K120,000.00.
Nsapato knew the pin number for the Airtel Money and he cashed in the money and handed over the phone to the owner.
On August 13, 2023, the owner of the phone wanted to withdraw the money from his phone and it is during this time when he realized that the money has been withdrawn by unknown person.
The owner of the phone called Airtel Customer Care where it was revealed that the money was transferred to another Airtel Money number and it was revealed that Nsapato was the one who withdrew the money.
Upon being contacted, Nsapato admitted to have withdrawn the money and K21,000.00 was recovered from him and he was supposed to pay back the remaining money on Monday, August 14, 2023.
Around 0:400 hours on August 14, 2023, father to Nsapato went to his son’s house where he found him hanging to the roof of his house.
The matter was reported to police, who in turn visited the scene accompanied by a medical practitioner where postmortem examination revealed that death was caused due to suffocation.
