Kottayam town on Tuesday witnessed chaotic scenes as relatives of a 50-year-old man who had committed suicide the other day staged a protest along with the body in front of a private bank.
The episode began to unfold around 12 noon when the body of K.C. Binu, who runs a footwear shop at Kudayampady in Aymanom, was placed in front of the Karnataka Bank branch at Nagambadom. The relatives accused the bank of forcing Binu to commit suicide by repeatedly issuing threats over delaying the repayment of a loan. According to them, Binu had borrowed ₹5 lakh from the bank and defaulted on its repayment over the past couple of months. Following this, an official from the bank used to visit his shop regularly and exert pressure on him to clear the dues at the earliest. The intimidation continued even after Binu repaid a bulk of his dues. “Despite multiple attempts to convince the bank that the dues would soon be repaid, they insisted on seizing the entire stock in our shop. It put my father under severe mental pressure,” said Nandana, daughter of the deceased. According to her, Binu was found dead a few hours after the bank manager sent one of his employees to threaten him. The protest snowballed into a law and order situation as activists of the Democratic Youth Federation of India led by its Central Committee member Jaick C. Thomas took out a protest march to the bank, which turned violent. As the police used force to disperse the crowd, the protesters resisted and resorted to stone pelting. The situation escalated as members of the traders organisations too rushed to the spot. Kottayam legislator Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan too reached the spot and initiated discussions with the police. Though the police eventually took control of the situation, the crowd continued with sloganeering and insisted on either the District Collector or the District Police Chief reaching the spot and promising action against the bank employees. The raging protests also caused disruptions in traffic across the region. The tension eased as the District Police Chief K.Karthik reached the spot after 1 p.m and promised to investigate the allegations against the bank. Accordingly, a summons was issued to the bank manager, asking him to appear for an interrogation. The bank officials, meanwhile, were not available for a comment despite multiple attempts.
Suicide prevention number: 0471-2552056
