Demand for exorbitant interest was a big menace to society and such offences are reported more in southern districts, observed the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court while ordering a CB-CID probe into one such case reported in Madurai.
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Justice B. Pugalendhi observed that considering the number of deaths due to the demand of exorbitant interest, the Tamil Nadu government brought in a separate legislature, The Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Charging of Exorbitant Interest Act, 2003.
The police who are expected to take action by registering a case against the accused are not taking action and are hand in glove with rich, powerful and influential financiers. The purpose for which the Act was brought in has not been achieved. We are waking up only when some tragedies have taken place, the court observed.
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The court was hearing the petition filed by Elango of Madurai. The petitioner was running a software company in Madurai. In 2020, during COVID-19 he suffered financial loss and he borrowed a sum of ₹2 lakh from one Karthick Selvam, a financier, through an agent, Sheik Imran. The petitioner said that he was harassed by the financier and was constrained to borrow money from others to pay the exorbitant interest. The financier, broker and others intimidated him to transfer the company to their names.
He said that he had lodged a complaint with Tallakulam police in 2023. Since no action was taken, he lodged a complaint with the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Madurai north. It was forwarded to Tallakulam police for an inquiry. However, no case was registered.
He approached the Judicial Magistrate II, who directed the police to register an FIR or file a report by February 2024. Even after the direction by the JM, the FIR was not registered. Therefore, he filed the petition seeking a direction to the police to comply with the direction of the JM and register an FIR.
The court took into account that the police had registered a case now. Though an FIR was registered now, considering the manner in which the petitioner’s complaint was dealt with by the police, the court directed the Director General of Police (DGP) to transfer the case to either CBCID, Madurai or Virudhunagar.