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Man commits suicide as TV astrologer predicts a short life for him

Sandeep, a 30 year old Indian national hailing from Kerala, committed suicide in his room in Abu Shagara area in Sharjah on Friday night after an astrologer predicted a short life for the man on a TV channel.

According to Pradeep, the brother in-law of the deceased, they found him hanging by the hook of a fan in his room.

“He was living with us, and on Friday I went out with my wife (sister of the deceased) at about 6 in the evening. When we returned late in the night, we found his room locked from inside and the lights on. When we knocked, there was no response.

“We informed the police who came and found he was hanging by the fan,” he said.

Pradeep said that when Sandeep’s mother was informed about the death of her son, she revealed that her son had made a call to her in India on Friday night at about 9.30pm, asking her whether a short life was predicted in his horoscope written by an astrologer at his birth. He had informed the mother that a similar prediction was made by an astrologer on a TV channel recently.

He asked her why she did not tell him earlier what was written in his horoscope, said the brother-in-law.

He also disclosed that the horoscope of the deceased was brought to the UAE for some proposals for Sandeep to match with the prospective girls’ horoscopes. “This is when he read it, and thereafter called the astrologer. He was feeling very low for the last three to four days. We did not know the reason. His mother only told us these things when we informed her about his death,” Pradeep said.

“We hope the body will be released soon,” said Pradeep, adding that they were planing to repatriate the body to India as soon as the forensic tests are conducted and the police releases the body. Sandeep was a master’s degree holder in financial management and had a good job with a company in Dubai. I still can’t believe that an educated person like him can commit suicide for a silly thing like this,” said the brother-in-law.

Meanwhile, social organisations urged the authorities to look into the issue. “Some Indian TV channels are broadcasting programmes on astrology. Most of them give an option for the viewers to call them and get their future predicted. They make an income because viewers make an international hotline call which generates income from advertisements,” said Joy, a volunteer of ‘Sneha Thazhvara’, a social organisation. He added that the astrologers are creating social problems and this should be prevented.