5 booked after Gujarat farmer writes to CM: Want to sell kidney to repay my loans

Others named in the FIR filed at Babara police station are Satubhai Vala, Bharat Patgir, Gadhvibhai and Anak Patgir. Other than Gadhvibhai, all others are residents of Kotda Pitha village, police said adding Bharat is a driver with the GSRTC.

The five have been booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt), 506 (2) (criminal intimidation) and 114 (abettor present when offence is committed), as well as under Gujarat Moneylenders Act’s sections 40 (molestation of a debtor for the recovery of a loan due by him to moneylender) and 42-d (demand, charge or receive from a debtor the interest at a rate higher than fixed by the government).

In his letter ot the CM, copies of which were marked to Amreli Collector and superintendent of police (SP), Gajera said that he availed Rs 15 lakh loan from Satubha Vala at 2.5 per cent interest for the marriage of his daughter and son 15 years ago. However, he couldn’t pay the interest amount even though Vala, who is also a resident of Kotda Pitha, kept demanding the same.

The farmer added that due to frequent attempts by Vala for recovery, he sold pieces of his 24 bigha land in a staggered manner around eight years ago and repaid Vala’s loan with due interest. However, Vala told the farmer that Rs 3 lakh was still due.

Gajera stated that due to bad years in farming, he couldn’t pay Vala interest on Rs 3 lakh. Eventually, around four years ago, Gajera took Rs 3 lakh loan from GSRTC driver Patgir at four per cent interest and cleared the dues of Vala.

As per the FIR, Gajera kept paid Patgir Rs12,000 per month as interest for one year but couldn’t manage later on. To pay interest to Vala and Patgir, Gajera took Rs1.5 lakh loan from Gadhvibhai, a resident of Jasdan town, around three years ago at Rs 54,000 as annual interest.

The three money lenders kept visiting Gajera’s farm repeatedly, demanding payment of interest on loans.

As per the FIR, the farmer sold 24 out of his 28 bigha land and agricultural equipment to repay the loans over 15 years.

“I sold one agricultural equipment after the other and paid them interest. However, they were demanding compound interest (interest on interest amount). So, I took Rs1 lakh loan from Kantibhai Lavabhai Radadiya at five per cent interest. I am paying him Rs 33,000 interest every month. Later, I took Rs 33 lakh loan from Anak Patgir at five per cent interest… I am paying him Rs 3.15 lakh interest every month,” the FIR quotes Gajera as having stated.

Amreli superintendent of police Himkar Singh told The Indian Express, “Our team from Babra police station reached out to the farmer but he was not willing to file a formal complaint. We explained to him that to put the law in motion, we needed a formal complaint and after much persuasion, he gave a complaint Tuesday evening. Subsequently, one accused was arrested Wednesday while the rest are absconding.”

The FIR states that Radadiya and Anak Patgir also made the farmer sign two cheques each in their favour. The farmer said that despite him having paid interest much higher than the principal amount, the five kept demanding further payment and threatened him to kill him and take possession of his agricultural land.

“We have arrested Radadiya, who is also a farmer from Kotda Pitha village. We shall produce him in court tomorrow,” said RD Chaudhary, inspector of Babra police station.