Daily wager with ‘loan dues of Rs 1.5L’ dies in revenue custody in UP

Agra: A 55-year-old daily wager, Ilyas Khan, who purportedly had an outstanding loan of Rs 1.47 lakh, along with collection charges from a private firm, died in the custody of revenue officials in Aligarh district on Tuesday. An official investigation was ordered later in the day after Khan's family claimed he was forcibly picked from home by a tehsil team "without prior notice", and barely an hour later, they were informed of his death.Additional district magistrate (ADM) Pankaj Kumar said, "After he failed to repay, the firm approached court for recovery. Following the court order, the recovery process was carried out by tehsil staff. An ‘amin' and other staff members went to his place and took him to the tehsil after he agreed to go with them. Upon reaching the tehsil, he started to vomit, and was taken to hospital, where he died. Action will be taken against anyone found guilty."The ADM said a process to auction his property had been initiated. "But, somehow, it could not be completed and the court repeatedly issued reminders to ensure recovery of the amount," Kumar said.Khan's son, Firoz Pathan, however, had a different version. He alleged tehsil staff demanded Rs 20,000 from his father. "A tehsil team took my dad forcibly without serving notice. Within an hour, we received a call informing us that he was dead," he said.Khan's wife, Shabana, admitted that her husband had taken a loan and was paying instalments.Pathan approached Quarsi police station and filed a complaint against "five unnamed persons". SHO (Quarsi) Narender Sharma said, "The man's son filed a police complaint which is being looked into. Investigation is on."The body was sent for postmortem, and "further action will be taken once we get the report", an official said, adding, "Khan had purchased a plot for which he took financial assistance from the private firm."