KOCHI: At a time when conflicting views emerged on the reason for the suicide of a mother-daughter duo at Neyyattinkara in Thiruvananthapuram, it has been revealed the deceased, S S Lekha, and her husband Chandran Rudran had approached the Kerala High Court seeking to quash the recovery proceedings initiated by Canara Bank for non-payment of home loan.
Chandran is the first petitioner and Lekha is the second petitioner in the case pending before the High Court. Though the case came up for hearing before the court on Tuesday, Lekha and her daughter Vaishnavi took the extreme step without waiting for the court decision.
The bank informed the court the petitioners had given an assurance they will repay the amount by 1 pm on Tuesday.
The court adjourned the case to May 20 and sought the view of the bank. Advocate S Krishna, counsel for the petitioners, informed the court they availed a loan of Rs 5 lakh from Canara Bank, Neyyattinkara branch, on November 12, 2005. Due to a financial crunch, the petitioners failed to repay the loan amount in time. The bank had claimed an exorbitant amount of Rs 6,41,546 with interest as outstanding.
Of unheard pleas and requests of the couple
The petition stated they had approached the bank on several occasions seeking a statement of accounts and correct details regarding the due amount.
The bank had turned a blind eye towards the request and chose to keep the petitioners in the dark regarding the excess amount.
Later, the bank initiated steps against the petitioner under the Kerala Revenue Recovery Act and they had received a notice regarding revenue recovery on May 10 at 2 pm.
The duo pleaded before the court if adequate time was granted with reasonable instalments, they will be able to pay off the outstanding amount. The petition stated the sale notice was illegal.
Rs 5L
Loan amount availed in 2005
Rs 6,41,546
Amount claimed by bank to repay