Gurugram: 5 moneylenders arrested for extortion, illegal recovery

Gurugram, Oct 13 (PTI) The Gurugram police arrested five moneylenders here on charges of extortion and illegal recovery related to loans with exorbitant interest rates, police said on Monday.

The accused were allegedly charging a 20 per cent interest and had collected Rs 15 lakh by giving a loan of Rs 7 lakh to a person, they added.

According to the police, they received a complaint on Sunday regarding illegal demands for money, assault, and threats to kill the borrower's family if the payments were not made.

The complainant stated that he and his brother had borrowed Rs 7 lakh from Lalit, Nitin, Praveen, Himanshu, Sanjay, and two others on August 30, 2024. They reported returning approximately Rs 15 lakh at a 20 per cent interest rate, yet the moneylenders were unlawfully demanding Rs 25 lakh from them.

"On September 7, the accused came to my shop, verbally abused and assaulted me, and attempted to snatch Rs 64,000. They also threatened to shoot me. These individuals forcibly obtained three cheques (each worth Rs 5 lakh) from my father's SBI bank account and secured our signatures on blank papers under duress. They warned us that they would misuse these cheques," the complaint read.

Following the complaint, an FIR was registered at the Shivaji Nagar police station, and police arrested the five accused on Monday, officials said.

The accused were identified as Krishan alias Nitin, resident of Ajit colony in Rohtak, and Himanshu, Sanjay, Lalit, and Praveen, all residents of Kaboolpur village in Rohtak, they added.

"During interrogation, the accused revealed that they have been giving money on interest since 2022-23. We are questioning the accused," a spokesperson of Gurugram police said. PTI COR ARB ARB MPL MPL