RANCHI: A microfinance company in Jharkhand held a minor hostage for 14 days by its staff as his mother allegedly failed to repay the loan borrowed from the company.
When the local police were informed about the situation, they immediately took action and saved the child from the control of the staff members of a microfinance company. They filed a First Information Report (FIR) against two identified individuals and other unknown suspects.
According to police, the branch manager of the microfinance company, Nigam Yadav, has been arrested while the hunt is on for the other named accused person Umashankar Tiwari and other accused persons involved in the case.
Garhwa SP Deepak Kumar Pandey said that a complaint was filed by the wife of Santosh Ram at Bhawnathpur police station based on which, an FIR has been lodged in this regard.
“An FIR has already been filed and one person has also been arrested in the case while the matter is still under investigation,” said the SP.
Statement of the minor has also been recorded before a magistrate under Section 164 of IPC during which the matter was found to be true, he added.
The SP also informed that the minor has also recorded his statement before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), which has also initiated a separate investigation into the matter.
The SP, however, denied divulging any further information in this regard saying that the investigation is still underway.
The woman informed the police that she had taken a loan of Rs 40,000 from the microfinance company and had repaid Rs 32,000 while a sum of Rs 18,000 was due (including the interest amount). Company’s Manager Nigam Yadav was exerting pressure on the woman to repay the remaining amount, she said.
“The branch manager and others came to my home 14 days back for recovery of the loan, but I was not there. They took my minor son along with them to the branch located at Henho Mode in Shribanshidhar Nagar in my absence and held him, hostage, for 14 days. When I enquired about my son, they threatened me not to approach the police or his kidney and eyes will be sold after removing them from his body,” stated the FIR lodged in this regard.
Out of fear, she kept silence and did not inform the police, but after 14 days she lost patience and informed others in the locality and the matter was put to the notice of local police station, which, taking a swift action rescued the minor, it said.
After being rescued, the minor also informed the police that the accused persons used to make him clean the bottles and the place after drinking alcohol, besides making him do other day to day work. Not only this, they used to threaten him that if her mother failed to repay the loan amount, they would sell his kidney and eyes after removing it from his body. His elder sister was at the home on the day of the incident, he told the police.
“Some of the employees of the microfinance company had come to the home in search of my mother. When they did not find her at home, I was made to sit on their vehicle on the pretext of finding his mother, and taken to Nagar Untari. I was detained there for 14 days,” said the minor. One of the employees, Umashankar
Tiwari even used to abuse him, torture him and also made attempts to strangulate him, he said.
The minor also informed the police that he was made to do household chores by the employees of the microfinance company during his captivity.
After learning about the incident, the microfinance company is said to have suspended the accused bank manager and is also conducting an internal probe into the incident.