Rights panel seeks reports from SP, bank manager on lawyer’s suicide

Relatives allege coercion by bank authorities to repay loan

May 14, 2022 06:49 pm | Updated 06:49 pm IST

Staff Reporter

KALPETTA

The Kerala State Human Rights Commission (KSHRC) has issued a directive to the Superintendent of Police, Wayanad, to investigate the circumstances that led to the suicide of a lawyer at Pulpally in Wayanad district on Thursday.

M.V. Tomy, 56, of Mundattu Chundayil, former additional public prosecutor and government pleader, was found dead inside his house at Irulam near Pulpally.

The report should be submitted to the commission at a sitting scheduled to be held at the collectorate conference hall here on May 27, the directive said. The commission also issued another directive to the manager of the Pulpally branch of the South Indian Bank to submit details of the incident at the sitting.

The lawyer had borrowed ₹12 lakh from the Pulpally branch of the bank 10 years ago for house construction. But he could not repay the amount owing to various reasons. Some of his relatives alleged that the bank authorities had warned him that he would have to pay back ₹16 lakh and that if he failed to pay the dues, they would initiate revenue recovery measures. The incident might have prompted him to take the extreme step, they said.

However, the bank authorities had denied all the allegations.

Meanwhile, a group of people under the aegis of an all-party action council, took out a march to the Pulpally branch of the South Indian Bank raising a slew of demands, including adoption of stringent steps against the officials of the financial institution.

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