Outrage as Tamil Nadu farmer ‘manhandled’ by bank loan recovery agent dies

TIRUVANNAMALAI: A 55-year-old farmer died on Saturday night after a loan recovery agent allegedly harassed him over not repaying a nationalised bank. Outraged over the incident, the farmer’s relatives refused to accept his body from the Tiruvannamalai GH, where he passed away.

Gnanasekaran, the breadwinner of his family, had taken a loan from a nationalised bank and sought extra time to repay it, claiming that he suffered losses in the past few years as his crops failed, said his relatives. They claimed that an officer of the collection agency pushed him during an argument, causing him to fall and lose consciousness. He was rushed to the Thanipadi GH, from where he was transferred to the Tiruvannamalai GH, where he died.

Gnanasekaran of Ponthai village in Thandarampet taluk, Tiruvannamalai, took the loan seven years ago, but failed to repay it for the past three years due to severe drought.The police arrested Raja (36), a collection-agency staff, based on a complaint from Gnanasekaran’s son. His relatives demanded the arrest of those behind the death.

In the wake of a farmer succumbing to injuries inflicted allegedly by recovery agents hired by a nationalised bank in Tiruvannamalai, political parties on Sunday demanded the State government to take adequate action to protect farmers from bank authorities.Strongly condemning the incident in which Gnanasekaran of Ponthai village in Thandarampattu taluk died after being assaulted allegedly by bank agents, CPI (M) State secretary G Ramakrishnan demanded a compensation of `25 lakh to the bereaved family.

In a statement here, he also demanded the Tamil Nadu government to take necessary steps to protect farmers who had taken crop loans.PMK youth wing leader and Lok Sabha member Anbumani Ramadoss said, “Banks hiring goons goes against the guidelines of Reserve Bank of India and the verdict of Supreme Court.” He too demanded a compensation of `25 lakh to the family. The farmer had taken a tractor loan from a nationalised bank and could not repay the dues following agricultural and financial stress.
urging the Centre and the State governments to issue necessary directions to banks against the use of force for loan recovery, president of Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) G K Vasan wanted the State government to provide a government job to a relative of Gnanasekaran.

Heart attack, says autopsy

Even as Gnanasekaran’s relatives demanded the arrest of those responsible for his death, the post mortem report said that the farmer died of a heart attack. Further investigations are on