Odisha couple dies by suicide after alleged harassment over repayment of loans

Police said the couple took insecticide to end their lives.

Unable to repay around ₹50,000 loan that they had taken from a few microfinance companies, a couple in Odisha by suicide Friday night after consuming insecticide, police said Saturday.

The bodies of the couple were found in the village in the morning on Saturday. (Representative Photo/Getty Images)

Police in coastal Balasore district said the bodies of Kashinath Roul and his wife Kanaklata Roul, both in their 50s, were found in their village Podadiha under Rupsa police station area of the district Saturday morning.

Jaleswar sub-divisional police officer Jalandhar Jali said Kashinath sold snacks in local trains, but had lost his livelihood after train services were suspended in view of Covid-19 pandemic, “Finding no other option he took loans from some microfinance companies to start a new business. However, Kashinath’s business plans could not take off due to some reasons. He spent the loan amount on his family’s daily expenses,” said Jali.

One of Kashinath’s two sons, who lives separately in the village, alleged that a few days ago an agent of a microfinance company demanded repayment of the loan. When Kashinath expressed his inability to repay the loan, the agent scolded him and mockingly asked him to die if he could not repay his loan.

“My father had taken loans from a few groups. They were harassing him as he was unable to clear the debts,” said Balram Roul, Kashinath’s son.

The other son lives in a different place. Police said they have lodged a case of unnatural death and awaiting the post-mortem report for further investigation.

In June this year, Union minister of state for MSME, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Pratap Sarangi had urged chief minister Naveen Patnaik to put in place firm guidelines to rein in the microfinance companies in Odisha who harass borrowers amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sarangi had alleged that microfinance companies in Odisha had unleashed a great deal of hardship on women borrowers, leading to social unrest, intimidation, violence and even suicides in some places.