A lorry driver from Mettur, who had sought a loan from the Mettur branch of a nationalised bank for his daughter’s education, consumed poison in the bank after he was turned away for the umpteenth time, on Friday.
M Rathinam (52) of Hospital Colony in Mettur is battling for his life at the Mettur GH. Rathinam’s 19-year-old daughter Meenu is a third-year BE student at a private engineering college in Salem. Rathinam had applied for an educational loan at the bank after he admitted his daughter to the college. But the bank had insisted on various formalities at various times and whenever he fulfilled one formality a new one was placed before him, according to Mettur police.
The branch manager is said to have asked him to visit the bank on Friday, indicating that the loan would be sanctioned. When he went to the bank in the morning, he was told that the manager was unavailable and he was asked to come the next day.
Rathinam, who seemed to have come prepared for the worst, took out a bottle of pesticide and consumed it in the presence of the bank employees and customers. Police said the man vomited and swooned in the bank and was taken to the Mettur GH. Doctors placed him under observation as vital organs could be affected.
Dharmapuri MP Thamaraiselvan visited Mettur GH and met Rathinam. He later visited the bank and held discussions with the officials. He is said to have investigated whether the bank had, in exercising over caution, exceeded its limitations and whether the government norms and directions for sanctioning educational loans were followed in Rathinam’s case.
The Mettur police is yet to book an FIR, although the matter came to its notice through the hospital. Police said they were yet to inquire with the bank, after which a complaint would be registered.
| Full coverage State Elections 2013 Specials on: Narendra Modi | Rahul Gandhi | Sachin Tendulkar | World Chess Championship | VoXpress | Indian GP |