Mystery over Kirni Mounika taking Rs 3 lakh from app firm

HYDERABAD: Three days after 25-year-old agriculture extension officer (AEO) Kirni Mounika ended her life humiliated by an app-based finance company, it remains a mystery as to why she took Rs 3 lakh from a loan app.
Officials said Mounika could have easily got a loan from a banking and financial institution, but Mounika chose a loan app. The app defamed her on social media, sharing her photograph, name and phone number when she did not repay the loan.
Mounika was the sole earning member of her family.She has three younger brothers. Her father Bhoopani, a resident of Rajagopalpet in Nangunuru mandal, is a former sarpanch. District agriculture officer P Sravan Kumar told TOI, “She used to be out on the field by 8am to meet farmers in the cluster given to her. She was committed to her job.”
Officials said Mounika was a role model for other AEOs in Siddipet district. Her job as an AEO was to cover five to seven villages and educate about 1,500 farmers. She would tell them about benefits accrued from government schemes and also provide necessary advice for 5,000acre under cultivation.
Officials of agriculture department, who were shocked by her untimely death, said she took up challenging tasks. Such was her grasp of subjects and her quickness in implementing government schemes that superiors would tell others that her work has to be emulated.