Moneylender arrested for usury

Coimbatore: The Thudiyalur police arrested a moneylender on Friday for demanding exorbitant interest rates and criminally intimidating a businessman. Police also seized unaccounted money worth 20.54 lakh from his house.
The arrested person was identified as S Sathish Kumar, 39, of Balaji Garden at Subramaniyampalayam in Thudiyalur.

K Manickam, 60, of Lakshmi Nagar at Edaiyarpalayam, a realtor-cum-used car dealer, had borrowed 5 lakh with 4% interest rate from Sathish three months ago, police said. “He repaid 2.5 lakh with interest. However, Sathish demanded the remaining amount with 7% interest, which Manickam refused to pay. On Friday around 4pm, Sathish met Manickam at Appanaickenpalayam Pirivu, demanded a high interest rate and also threatened him,” a police officer said.
Manickam lodged a complaint with Thudiyalur police inspector Gnanasekaran, who registered a case against Sathish and arrested him. He was booked under sections 3 read with 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Charging Exorbitant Interest Act 2003 and Section 506 (ii) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. He was remanded in judicial custody on Saturday morning.
Police searched Sathish’s house and seized 20.54 lakh unaccounted money. “Sathish is facing a case for selling banned tobacco products at a petty shop in 2020. He earned lakhs of rupees through illegal sale of gutka before venturing into money-lending business,” the officer added.