Yesterday, certain recovery agents of ICICI bank allegedly killed a person who had not paid up his loan. Another defaulter quoted a horrifying experience too.
“They took off my shirt, shaved off my moustache, cut my hair and gave electric shocks on my chest. They even spit on my face. It was very humiliating and traumatic,” said CLN Murthy, Loan defaulter.
It is strong-arm tactics like this that allegedly caused the death of 42-year-old Yadaiah, a government employee who was allegedly picked up from his office on Friday by a recovery agency of ICICI Bank. A couple of hours later his wife got a call that Yadaiah was dead.
Was the bank aware of the recovery agency using such tactics? I don’t know but the agency gets a lot of money to recover the loan, and from certain sources, upto 40% of the amount recovered. Plus, ICICI bank has already paid Rs. 15 lakh to the family, even if it wasn’t directly its fault.
But that does not condone the murder. If word spreads, people will refuse to take loans from ICICI bank and quite rightfully so. But I’m sure this is not a problem of ICICI bank alone…isn’t it a problem of the whole industry?
Yet, our people are so strapped for credit that it is probably better to work with a bank than to get credit from, heaven forbid, a moneylender.
