TIRUNELVELI: An elderly man attempted self-immolation on the district collectorate premises during a grievance redressal meeting held on Monday, demanding action against a moneylender who allegedly threatened his family members for denying to pay exorbitant interest rates.
The man was identified as P Arumugam (74), an SC resident of Eruvadi. His son A Selvan had also attempted to kill himself on January 17 citing the same reason and was recently discharged from Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital.
"We borrowed Rs 20,000 for family expenses from Malaiyappan Thevar 16 months ago at a weekly interest rate of Rs 2,000. We paid the interest regularly for 11 months. However, due to some inconveniences, we could not pay the interest for the past five months.
Though we already paid around Rs 1 lakh, Malaiyappan calculated interest for the unpaid interest and demanded a huge sum of money. On January 17, he came to the poultry farm where my wife and I working and abused us by hurling caste slurs. Malayappan also beat us," Arumugam told the media persons.
Selvan, who accompanied Arumugam, submitted a petition to the district administration at the redressal meeting. Earlier, based on Selvan's complaint after he took the extreme step, the Panagudi police had registered a case against Malayappan under Sections of the Indian Penal Code and Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Charging Exorbitant Interest Act.
"However, the police, who already refused to include the Sections of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in my case did not take any action against Malayappan. As he is still posing a threat to our lives, the district administration should help us," said Selvan.
In a similar incident that took place on the premises of the Tirunelveli collectorate in 2017, three members of a family died by self-immolation alleging the police's inaction against a moneylender who tortured them.