Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K.S. Alagiri on Monday demanded the arrest of a bank branch manager in Dharapuram after a farmer who had taken a loan from the bank, reportedly committed suicide. Mr. Alagiri alleged that despite a directive from the Central government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the branch manager had engaged goondas to threaten the farmer to pay his dues.
Mr. Alagiri said both RBI and the Central government have given directives on moratoriums during the COVID-19 pandemic period. “Without following these directives, the manager, along with goondas, has threatened the farmer and verbally abused his family members, due to which he took the drastic step of suicide,” he said.
Mr. Alagiri said a case might be filed against the bank officials who flouted the guidelines and pushed the farmer to the brink, and demanded that they be arrested for murder. He also requested the Tamil Nadu government to waive the loan taken by the farmer and provide a compensation of ₹50 lakh to the farmer’s family.
