Mumbai crime: Man stripped and assaulted by money lenders commits suicide

The garment merchant from Mulund has named two moneylenders in his suicide note and alleged that they stripped and physically assaulted him on March 15 at a wedding

A garment merchant from Mulund ended his life after being allegedly physically harassed by two moneylenders.

Bhavik paid Rs 18,000 daily as the interest. Pic/Siddharth Dhadve

Mulund police, which registered the case, said that the deceased, identified as Bhavik Dand (32), had left behind a suicide note blaming the two individuals.

Cops said the deceased had taken a loan from two moneylenders Mayur and Razak, as per the note on a 1 per cent daily interest.

The note alleges that the duo called Dand to a wedding function on March 15, where they stripped him and physically assaulted him from 10.30 pm to 2.30 am the next day.

Dand sold his shop for more than Rs 1 crore, as he had to pay interest due to the moneylenders.

'Friend’s debt'
However, the victim’s family stated that it was his friend who had actually taken the loan. Kalpesh Dand, the deceased’s brother said, “My brother’s friend had taken a loan of Rs 10 lakh from Razak and Mayur on a daily interest basis, in which he (Bhavik) had been the only witness. Since his friend ran away after taking the loan, my brother had to pay on his behalf.”

According to Kalpesh, his brother had already sold his shop two years ago to pay off the debt. He also gave the moneylenders his life’s savings. Kalpesh further added, “Because of this interest, he had to pay R15k-18k per day to these money lenders, as he had already paid them more than a crore.”

When asked whether they knew of Dand being stripped and assaulted, he said, “Nobody had a clue that any such incident took place.” The deceased is survived by his wife and three daughters, who live in a home on Ganesh Gaure Road in Mulund (West).

Mulund police officials registered a case of abetment to suicide yesterday and detained four people. Senior Inspector Phoolsingh Pawar from Mulund police station said, “We have registered the offence under Section 306 (abetment to suicide) and we are investigating the matter. If the two are found guilty, we will definitely arrest them.”

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