Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

17 moneylenders booked on charge of kidnapping

Thiruvananthapuram: The police have booked 17 moneylenders in the city on the charge of kidnapping and under the provisions of the Kerala Moneylenders Act, 1958 in connection with the disappearance of a trader.

Assistant Commissioner of Police, Fort, B. Krishnakumar said the case was registered on the basis of a complaint filed by the wife of one Ravindran Nair. He owns a photocopier shop at S.S. Kovil Road in Thampanoor police station limits.

In her complaint, the woman said her husband had been missing since June 18, 2009. When she searched her husband’s locker a few days later, she found several letters indicating that the moneylenders had been harassing him for money. He had taken loans, nearly Rs.30 lakh, from them for repairing his house and shop.

Mr. Nair stated in one of the letters, purportedly written by him, that he had paid the moneylenders several times the principal amount he had availed as loan from them. In one case, he had paid Rs.8,40, 000 as interest alone for a Rs.4 lakh loan for a period of 70 months.

However, the private financiers were continuing to threaten and harass him, he said. One of them had threatened that they would kidnap and harm his sons, who are studying in different engineering colleges. Mr. Nair said that he had no other recourse but to take his own life.

His letters were addressed to Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and Director General of Police Jacob Punnoose.

He stated that he was thinking of killing himself to spare his family the harassment from moneylenders and their thugs.

In a letter addressed to his wife and children, he exhorted them to face life with courage and stated that he cherished his family and wanted to live with them forever.

Mr. Nair’s wife told the police that she feared that one of the moneylenders could have kidnapped him for ransom. The police registered a case of kidnapping under section 365 of the Indian Penal Code against the moneylenders on the basis of her statement.

The police also reported the matter to the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-III.

Circle Inspector, Thampanoor, K. Anil Kumar is investigating the case.

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