Coimbatore man complains about money lender

COIMBATORE: After pledging and selling most of his valuables to pay interest for Rs 50,000 he had borrowed over a year ago, a 40-year-old resident of Podhanur filed a complaint at the police commissioner office here on Monday seeking protection from a money lender.
“I had paid over Rs 6 lakh as interest for mere Rs 50,000 that I borrowed from the usurer in 2017. They demand another Rs 7 lakh. But, I have nothing more to sell or pledge,” said the complainant, Nixon Salin. He had owned a peanut burfi unit where 12 people worked.

He said that to give Diwali bonus to his employees, he had borrowed Rs 50,000 from one of his neighbours who was a money lender by profession, as he fell short of money and promised to return the money within ten days. But due to unfortunate situations, he couldn’t repay the amount within the agreed time, he added.

“On 40th day, the money lender claimed that I had to repay Rs 93,000 including the interest amount. As I could not immediately repay such a huge amount, he gave me another Rs 7,000 and got my signature on an empty paper,” he said.

“Since then I have been paying interest for Rs 1 lakh which they considered my loan amount. Interest for the loan is Rs 1,000 per day and upon failing to pay, Rs 100 was charged for every miss. I had paid about Rs 40,000 to Rs 60,000 as interest for every single miss for more than one year,” he explained.

The man said that he had sold most of the jewellery and vehicles that he had owned to pay the interest amount and shut down his company. They had even taken electronic appliances from his houses to compensate for the interest amount, he added.

Officials at the commissioner officer received the petition and forwarded to the concerned police station to initiate an inquiry.