Scared of humiliation over bank attachment notice, college student dies by suicide

On the attachment notice, bank officials said it was part of the protocol and the notice was issued as per Sarfaesi Act, to take care of bad debt — this law allows banks to take control of securities pledged against the loan, manage or sell them to recover dues without court intervention.

Gopi Kottamurikkal, chairman of the bank, said, “There should be a detailed probe whether the girl died due to the bank action or of any other issues.”

While the Opposition Congress alleged that Abhirami is a victim of the “lopsided policies of the CPI(M) in the cooperative sector”, the minister concerned said the state government has sought a report from the bank and appropriate action will follow.

According to local police, the victim’s father, Ajikumar, had taken a loan of Rs 10 lakh from the cooperative bank — popularly called Kerala Bank — five years ago when he was employed in the Gulf. He defaulted repayment after he lost his job and returned home during the pandemic, the police said.

He had sought more time for repayment, police officers said, but bank officials did not listen to the request and, instead, installed a board in front of the house on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Ajikumar told the media that his daughter died by suicide since she “could not suffer the humiliation caused by the notice of possession”. He said: “My daughter had pleaded with the bank’s officials against putting up the board, or at least to cover it. My father is bedridden and stays with us, so relatives frequent our home to meet him. My daughter wanted the board to be at least covered so that the relatives and family friends do not see that the property is facing attachment, but bank officials did not pay heed.”

The police said Abhirami ended her life when her parents had gone to the bank on Tuesday evening to negotiate with officials to avoid legal action.

Kottamurikkal, who is also a CPI(M) leader, said, “Prima facie, there was no lapse on part of the officials. However, we will look into whether there was undue haste on the part of officials in putting up the possession board,’’ he said.

However, Cooperation Minister V N Vasavan said the state government has always opposed the Sarfaesi Act. “The incident was unfortunate. I have sought a report from the bank and action will be taken based on that,” he said.

Stating that they resorted to legal remedies, including putting up the attachment board, a Kerala Bank official said: “There was no move to evict the family from the house. The notice was served only for the defaulted amount. Officials had earlier met Ajikumar to apprise him of the situation.”

The official also said that bank officials did not speak with anyone on Tuesday “at the time of erecting the possession notice”.

Blaming the CPI(M)-led state government’s “lopsided policies”, state Congress president K Sudhakaran said, “The CPI(M) had formed Kerala Bank after amalgamating all district cooperative banks for their political ends. The government should make it clear whether they formed Kerala Bank to push people to suicide and crisis.”