Bindu, a Kudumbashree worker, was allegedly locked up by moneylenders for nearly five hours at her house in Marayamuttom near Neyyatinkara in the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday.
According to the Marayamuttom police, which took Bindu’s statement on Friday morning, she had borrowed money from the accused. The three accused, Yasoda, her son Aji who is a document writer, and their associate Sasi, are absconding.
The police have filed a case under the Kerala Prohibition of Charging Exorbitant Interest 3 & 4 and Kerala Money Lenders Act 17(1) as well as IPC sections 342, 506 (1), 294 b and 34 on the accused.
“Since the incident came to light, the accused are at large. We are still in search of them,” the police told TNM.
Bindu (39), a Kudumbashree Area Development Society member in Neyyatinkara, was reportedly struggling with money problems. She had borrowed money from Yashoda, a moneylender, and owed her Rs 1.3 lakh. Yashoda, along with her son Aji and associate Sasi, went to her home and demanded that Bindu should sign an agreement transferring the ownership of her 7-cent land as she was not able to repay the money.
Bindu, who was alone at home at that time, did not agree to this. As a means of threatening her, the accused locked her up inside her house. The incident came to light hours later after it was noted by someone living near Bindu’s home.
“The complainant preferred to give the statement today [Friday] as she was in shock after the unexpected move by the accused to lock her up in her house. By the time we reached her house yesterday, she was not able to divulge too many details,” the police said.
This is the first time that a complaint related to the Kerala Money Lenders Act has been registered at the station, according to police officials. Even during Operation Kubera, no case was registered at the station, they said.
However, police say there are a few things they need to confirm before they get a clear picture of what exactly happened at Bindu’s house. Sub Inspector Mrudul Kumar told TNM that the police were notified about the incident by a person who is said to be Bindu’s associate. “By the time we reached her house, she was not locked up, though she gave a statement saying so. There are many missing links in the case which we need to find,” he said.