VIJAYAWADA: A woman from Hyderabad was among seven people arrested in connection with the death of an 18-year-old intermediate student, who committed suicide after her family was allegedly harassed by a bank’s recovery agents. Nandigama police said on Monday that four of the arrested people were recovery agents, and the remaining accused were managers and staff of third-party loan-recovery agencies hired by the SBI and other banks.
Police identified the accused as Sirra Pavan Kumar, Karupoli Bhagya Teja, Gajjalakonda Venkata Siva Nagaraju, Challa Srinivas Rao and Singareddy Venkateswara Rao, all residents of Vijayawada, and Chilaka Munidhar Reddy and Burugu Madhuri of Hyderabad.
NTR District (West) DCP D Mary Prashanti told reporters that the deceased Jasthi Haritha Varshini’s father Jasthi Prabhakar Rao had used two credit cards to draw `6.35 lakh. After failing to clear the bills due to financial issues, the teams of two Hyderabad-based third-party loan recovery agencies, MSR Financial Services and SLV Financial Services, with call centres in Vijayawada, visited Varshini’s house, demanding the family to clear the dues. They abused them verbally and threatened to get Prabhakar arrested for defaulting. Prabhakar Rao works with a Delhi-based construction firm and visited his family, who lived in Nandigama, only three times a year.
Loan recovery agents admit to using harsh language: DCP
“Four loan recovery agents, Pavan Kumar, Bhagya Teja, Siva Nagaraju and Srinivas Rao, went to Varshini’s house twice - once in April and on July 26. They demanded the teen’s mother, Aruna, to clear the dues. Aruna urged them to come when her husband was at home or to proceed legally, but the agents abused her. Depressed over the incident, Varshini committed suicide after leaving a note explaining her reasons. The agents, too, admitted to using harsh language with Prabhakar’s family for not clearing the dues,” the DCP explained. Based on a complaint lodged by Aruna, Nandigama police registered a case and arrested the accused from Vijayawada and Hyderabad.
“The seven accused have been booked under IPC Sections 306 (abetment of suicide) read with Section 34 (Acts done by several people with common intention) and produced before the court,” Prashanti said. Expressing concern over the rising suicide cases due to harassment from loan recovery agents and customer care executives, the DCP warned financial service companies and banks to adhere to RBI guidelines while recovering loans and credit card dues. She further warned them of stringent action if they fail to follow prescribed methods. “A meeting would soon be convened with all financial and loan recovering agencies in Vijayawada to sensitise the agents to strictly follow the rules formulated by RBI,” DCP Prashanti said.