A woman attempted suicide in Tamil Nadu on Saturday following alleged harassment by loan sharks.
Thenmozhi, who resides with her husband and son in Nagapattinam, borrowed Rs 1.5 lakh along with her mother from Selvi, a neighbour’s aunt. Selvi had lent her the money at an exorbitant interest rate of 10% per month.
Over a period of three years, Thenmozhi reportedly paid Rs 6 lakh in interest alone.
While Selvi and Thenmozhi initially shared a cordial relationship, Thenmozhi’s husband Balakumaran says Selvi turned hostile following the death of Thenmozhi’s mother in July last year.
Following this, Thenmozhi was mired in a vicious cycle of debt, where she had to borrow from elsewhere to pay Selvi, who was growing increasingly impatient.
“When Thenmozhi defaulted on her interest in December, Selvi and her relatives came home and humiliated her using filthy language. They demanded we pay the principal amount. We both requested for time, but they refused and started abusing us more,” Balakumaran alleged.
Thenmozhi, who is currently unemployed, failed to pay the interest for January on time. Angered by this, Selvi allegedly went to her house along with her relatives and allegedly verbally abused and humiliated her once again.
Upset over this, Thenmozhi attempted to commit suicide by consuming poison on Saturday.
Balakumaran also alleged that the police refused to lodge a complaint against Selvi.
“They have only taken stock of what has happened. They have not acted on the complaint we gave in December, and nor have they filed a complaint now on the cause of the attempted suicide or the exorbitant interest,” Balakumaran said.
Speaking to TNM, Deshmukh Shekhar Sanjay, Nagapattinam’s Superintendent of Police said they were gathering details.
“We are investigating all those they (Thenmozhi and Balakumaran) allege are torturing them. We are gathering details and evidence about how they have taken the money, how much they have taken and so on. We can only talk about this after all this is clear,” he said.
Thenmozhi is presently recovering at the Nagapattinam Government Hospital.
The constant harassment by loan sharks came sharply into public focus when Kollywood director Sasikumar’s cousin committed suicide in November last year and purportedly blamed harassment by film financier Anbu Chezhiyan as the reason for his suicide.