Financial problems led Indian executive to commit suicide in JLT

DUBAI — The Indian Consulate in Dubai has urged the expatriates from the South Asian country to use counselling services offered by its workers resource centre in periods of stress even as financial problems were cited as the reason behind the suicide of the 45-year-old Indian executive who jumped to death from the 30th floor of a building in Jumeirah Lake Towers.

A colleague of the victim told Khaleej Times on Monday that the senior manger of her company was a well-respected man with pleasant and good manners. The woman who testified to the police said that the victim came to his company office in the tower to attend a weekly meeting on Sunday.

She said he had been upset for some months regarding a bank loan. The woman confirmed that he had no family problems.

A woman who was passing by the road informed the watchman of the building that she saw a man jumping from the top floor. After getting information from the watchman, the police rushed to the scene and found the corpse with head and body parts scattered on the road.

The body of the victim was handed over to the General Department of Forensic Medicine to be kept there till the completion of legal and administrative procedures.

The police have ruled out any criminal motive behind the man’s death and confirmed that the man had committed suicide due to financial problems. Meanwhile, the Indian Consulate in Dubai on Monday released the figures for the cases of suicides among Indians from 2008 till April 30, 2011.

It said the cases of 27 of the 335 Indians who died in the UAE till April have been classified as suicide. In 2010, deaths of 1,114 Indians were reported, of which 110 were suicides. In 2009, 113 Indians committed suicide when the total number of deaths reported was 1,285. In 2008, the number of recorded suicides was 147 out of 1,420 death cases involving Indians.

Consul-General of India Sanjay Verma told reporters that most of the Indians who committed suicide were unskilled or semi-skilled workers. He cited financial stress and personal problems as the major causes.

Noting that any suicide is worrisome, he urged Indians to avail the counselling services provided through the Indian Workers Resource Centre which can be accessed through the toll-free No. 80046342.


By Amira Agarib

Khaleej Times

Family, friends in shock after man's fatal plunge at Jumeirah Lakes Towers

CCTV footage captures final moments of executive who committed suicide in Jumeirah Lakes Towers

Dubai: The 38-year-old Indian man who jumped to his death from a high-rise building in Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT) on Sunday afternoon has been identified as Llewelyn Couto, a high-ranking business executive who had held senior positions in various companies in Dubai and was last employed with Splash, a Landmark Group company.

Llewelyn, fondly known as Lulu, left behind six-months pregnant wife, Poornima, and a one-and half-year-old son, Vivaan, when he took the fatal leap from the 40th floor of Icon building in JLT. He owned an apartment on the 13th floor of the building.

A family source denied Couto was under financial stress or had a family dispute. "He was being treated for depression, he was taking medication for the last six days," the source said.

CCTV cameras captured Couto's final moments, revealing a seriously distraught man, a building staff who saw the footage told XPRESS.

Nervous behaviour

The footage reviewed by authorities and building staff showed him pacing about inside the lift nervously. "He was literally tracked by the cameras from the underground parking to the top floor. He seemed really disturbed. He was seen pacing about inside the lift, sometimes holding his head with his hand," the building staff said.

The footage showed Couto, dressed in a white long-sleeved shirt and black trousers, park his vehicle at the basement and enter the lift. He did not press the "13" button on the lift where he lived but instead went straight to the 40th floor.

Camera footage from the top floor showed him entering a play area and then heading towards the pool side. It's here that he found an access to the ledge and jumped.

Couto's death has come as a huge shock to his colleagues and friends.

"He was the funniest guy I knew and always smiling and laughing ... really fun .. we are all in shock coz Lulu the guy we knew would not do that..," wrote a friend on Facebook.

"It's hard to believe he's gone. I have lost a friend," said an official at Stargate in Zabeel Park, where Couto worked as a marketing manager until February last year.

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