Harassed by moneylenders, Youth attempts suicide at SSP's office

Fed up by repeated “threats” and “attacks” by the people from whom he had borrowed money on interest, a resident of local Lavian Mohalla locality reportedly attempted to commit suicide at the office of senior superintendent of police (SSP) Inderbir Singh on Monday afternoon.

Fed up by repeated “threats” and “attacks” by the people from whom he had borrowed money on interest, a resident of local Lavian Mohalla locality reportedly attempted to commit suicide at the office of senior superintendent of police (SSP) Inderbir Singh on Monday afternoon.

As per information, the victim, Sushil Seth, believed to be in his thirties, went to the SSP office and urged police guards standing outside to deliver a letter to the SSP and also requested the guards to ask the police chief to read the letter immediately.

As soon as the SSP read the letter, he rushed out of his office and found Sushil lying unconscious on a chair. He told deputy superintendent of police (DSP, city) Jagwinder Singh to rush Sushil to the civil hospital.

In the letter, Sushil stated that he was running a footware shop at Gandhi Chowk. “About 19 months back, I had borrowed `10,000 from Babu and his brother Raja at an interest of 10%. Till 17 months, I paid them 17,000 as interest, and thereafter due to poor business condition, I was unable to pay interest money to them for the past two months due to which both brothers and one of their accomplices Garish used to threatened me.”

“They assault me often. Even two days back, the trio assaulted me publically in front of my shop, and threatened me of dire consequences if I failed to pay interest money to them. I know that I may not be able to get justice by being alive, thus I am committing suicide by consuming celphas tablets,” he added.

The SSP told Hindustan Times that he was stunned to know that Sushil had consumed celphas tablets, following which his condition had started deteriorating with every passing minute.

Sensing that things getting out of the hand, I asked the DSP and an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) to shift him to the civil hospital, but considering his serious condition, the doctors referred him to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital in Amritsar.

At the time of filing this report, Sushil’s condition was said to be critical.

Meanwhile, the DSP and the ASI accompanied his family members to Amritsar.

It is also learnt that one of the three accused named in the suicide note is a “close companion of a ruling party leader, who is pressurising police to delay their act”.

When questioned about action taken against the three persons, the SSP said they were investigating into the case and were waiting to record the statement of the victim, who was stated to be critical.