Harassed by moneylenders, man pours acid on self

AHMEDABAD: The Naranpura police station officials registered a case of attempted suicide after a man, unable to bear mounting pressure from moneylenders, poured acid on himself on June 29. Even though he was badly burnt, he was too scared to report the torment to the police. On Tuesday, his condition deteriorated and he had to be rushed to VS Hospital where the police took his complaint.
The victim, Gopal Tolani, lives in Sohrabji compound of Juna Wadaj and had borrowed Rs 5,000 from Suresh Prabha, Ravi Parmar and two others a year ago.Even while lending him the money, they deducted Rs 800 as interest and he got only Rs 4,200. Within a year, he had paid up Rs 7,000, barring the principal amount.
The accused used to threaten him and said they would take him to the torture room'. Gopal poured acid on himself on June 29 and tried to commit suicide. He ended up being badly burnt. Scared that if he went to hospital for treatment he might be harassed by the lenders, Gopal endured the pain in silence. However, his condition deteriorated by Tuesday and so he had to be shifted to the burns ward.
The Naranpura police station has registered four such cases of people suffering due to debt trap. The lenders harassed them so much that most borrowers were not ready to complain about them. Tolani has said moneylenders Prabha, Parmar, Bharat and Narad drove him to take the desperate step.
After Tolani's complaint was filed, Haresh Somani and Deepak Vaghvani also lodged a complaint against these very moneylenders.