Monday witnessed a steady stream of victims of torture and sexual harassment by the call money racketeers at the offices of City Police Commissioner and Task Force police. They narrated how they were fleeced by the gangsters with the backing of some influential persons in the city.
The twist of the incident is the emergence of women call money operators who proved that they are in no way inferior when it came to harassing the victims.
“I took Rs. 80,000 from a woman money lender and she filed a case in the court which ended in my husband landing in jail. Though the loan was repaid she filed a case and was harassing my family, a victim alleged.
Women and their family members, who borrowed money and facing trial in different courts, explained the ordeals they underwent owing to high-handed behaviour of the organisers. With the victims coming out one after the other it is clear that more and more money lenders were resorting to extortions in the name of money lending.
Most victims belong to middle classes who took loans ranging from Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 1 lakh towards medical treatment, school fees and buying vehicles. Some borrowers had to cough up Rs.1 lakh on sums as meagre as Rs. 5,000.
Police, who rounded up a few operators and their henchmen, are trying to gather the call data recordings of the mobile phones and bank accounts to know the details of the investors and others involved in the racket.
“I am a resident of Patamata and took Rs. 25,000 from a private money lender. The accused took five blank cheques and promissory notes from me. Even after clearing the loan, the money lender is not returning the cheques and the promissory notes and was threatening to file case in the court,” said a victim.
The day also saw a woman victim fainting in the City Police Commissioner’s office owing to stress. “A money lender took possession of my house and was not returning the documents,” said the victim a native of Rajiv Nagar.
