An elderly couple committed suicide early on Sunday after being allegedly humiliated by some staff members of a private finance company for being unable to clear outstanding dues against the loan they had taken one-and-a-half years back for the marriage of their younger son.
The incident took place in a remote village Aanalajodi of Kanas block in Odisha’s Puri district. The couple has been identified as Banambara Behera, 60, and Banita Behera, 53. Their bodies were found hanging on Sunday morning. The bodies were cremated in the evening following a post-mortem. The couple is survived by two sons and a daughter. All of them are married.
Banambara’s village Aanalajodi The Telegraph
One of the couple’s sons, Pramod Behera, 34, told The Telegraph: “No one was there in the house except the wife of my younger brother. On Saturday evening, some staff members of a finance company came to our house and they were in the house till late at night, insisting to clear the outstanding dues. There was a heated argument. My father pleaded that he would take some time to clear his dues. But they did not listen and threatened him to face dire consequences.
“After they left, probably out of sheer frustration, both my father and mother committed suicide. When the wife of my younger brother got up early in the morning and saw it, she was shocked and immediately informed us.”
Pramod has a belt and specs shop on the footpaths of Bhubaneswar city. He has taken the shop on rent. However, the shop remained closed for the last two months as Pramod was unable to give the security money amounting to Rs 1 lakh to the owner.
“Even my younger brother Balia’s financial condition is not good. He has a stationary shop selling bangles in Bhubaneswar and it’s not running well. Last week, the staff members of the finance company had come to our house in the village and demanded money.
“When my father rang me, I made an online payment of Rs 10,000. But since my father knew my financial condition, he did not call me this time and decided to end his life,” Pramod said.
Banambara and wife Banita The Telegraph
Citing the reason for his father taking the loan, Pramod said: “My father never discussed his financial condition openly with anyone. To my knowledge, he had taken a loan amounting to Rs 3 lakh during the marriage of my younger brother one-and-a-half years back. He had thought he would clear the dues. But last year, he had a poor season in farming and he failed to earn anything as such. Besides, he was unable to go to work as his health began to deteriorate.”
Supporting Pramod, one of the villagers, Sukanta Mandal, said: “The staff members of the private finance company came to Banambara’s house in the evening and remained there till late at night. But I have no idea what happened. The finance companies used to come to our village on Thursdays to collect their dues. Those who fail to clear their dues on Thursday, they again come on Saturday to collect the dues.”
Local scribe Trinath Mallick said: “The private finance companies are active at the village level. While the bank charges between 10 to 12 per cent as interest against a loan, the private finance companies are charging between 26 per cent to 30 per cent as interest against a loan.”
Inspector in charge of Kanas police station, Sujit Das, told The Telegraph: “An unnatural death case has been registered. The post-mortem of the two bodies was held. We have heard that the couple came under mental stress after a finance company insisted on clearing the dues. If the family lodges an FIR on this angle, we will proceed with the investigation.”