The Thudiyalur police in Coimbatore rural arrested a money lender on charges of demanding exorbitant rate of interest and intimidating a realtor on Friday.
S. Sathish Kumar (39), a resident of Balaji Garden at Subramaniyampalayam near Thudiyalur, was arrested based on a complaint lodged by K. Manickam (60) of Lakshmi Nagar at Edayarpalayam.
The police said that Manickam has been into real estate and sales of used cars. He borrowed ₹ 5 lakh from Kumar at 4% interest rate three months ago. Manickam claimed that he repaid ₹ 2.5 lakh with interest to Kumar.
Kumar had allegedly demanded Manickam to pay the remaining amount at an interest rate of 7 %. His complaint said that Kumar met him at Appanaickenpalayam pirivu on Friday evening and intimidated him.
Following the incident, Manickam lodged a complaint against Kumar at the Thudiyalur Police Station. Kumar was booked for offences under different Sections of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Charging Exorbitant Interest Act and Section the Indian Penal Code.
The police searched the house of Kumar on Friday and seized unaccounted cash to the tune of ₹ 20.54 lakh. Kumar was arrested and remanded in judicial custody on Saturday morning. The police said that Kumar was previously booked for selling prohibited tobacco products in 2020.
