Kaushal Bag, a 21-year-old techie who helped more than 20,000 people during Chennai floods by his application ‘Helping Hands’, allegedly committed suicide on Wednesday at his residence in Nashik.
Speaking to The News Minute, an inspector from Mumbai Naka police station in Nashik said, “He had hanged himself to death around 3.20pm and his family took him to the hospital, but the doctors declared him brought dead by 4.20pm.”
He added that a video of a suicide note was found on his mobile phone. “He asked for forgiveness from his parents and friends for committing suicide, but he did not say why was taking the step. We are investigating the case,” the inspector said.
The family meanwhile has not filed a case, and said that Kaushal was not depressed, and that they did not know the reason for his decision, police said.
Kaushal Bag had developed an offline application called ‘Helping Hands’ in July 2015, which can track GPS location using text messages. Thousands of people stuck in Chennai floods had used the application to send out SOS signals through their mobile phones, which helped the local volunteers locate and rescue them.
The application sends text messages even if the internet connection is lost, or network is unavailable. In such instances, the application uses radio waves to send the messages.
After people in Chennai began sending SOS signals, Helping Hands took the help of local NGOs to rescue the stranded people. After successfully helping people during floods, the team wanted to aid the police department too.
By December 2015, thousands of people had downloaded the app. The Times of India reported that the application was also used in Nashik and Ujjain Kumbh Mela to locate missing persons, and also during the Laksha Deepotsava, a huge religious gathering held in November 2016 at Dharmasthala in Karnataka.