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ICICI pays up Rs 15.5 lakh after suicide over loan
A little more than a week after Andhari resident Prakash Sarvankar committed suicide after being hounded by loan recovery agents appointed by ICICI Bank, his family jas recived an ex gratia payment of Rs15.50 lakh from the bank. This includes a fixed deposit of around Rs 10 lakh which will be maintained with ICICI Bank at 9.5% intrest per annum for five years. This would ensure a monthly payout of around Rs 8,000 to the family.
“The money will not get my husband back, but it will help secure my childrens’ future,” his widow Priyanka said. “i want to thank the media for following up on the issue. No borrower should ever suffer the way we have. The agents threatened to seal our house if my husband didn’t pay up, and humiliated him in public.”
ICICI Bank has submitted a report to the Reserve Bank of India, on this particular case, as also on its future course of action while dealing with similar cases.
The bank has already trminated services of the recovery agency ‘Nishant Associates’ which was involved in the Sarvankar case. The four accused have been remanded in police custody till Friday. Sarvankar (38) had taken a loan of 50,000 earlier this year, but was unable to repay all the instalments on grounds of illness. On Sept. 17, he hanged himself in his one-room residence, leaving a suicide note accusing the recovery agents of harassment