Rajkot: The Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) police have registered an FIR against the director and employees of a local credit cooperative society for allegedly extorting money from a borrower’s family and issuing death threats.
The complaint was filed by Dipti Doshi (50) against Parag Solanki, director of Mason Club Credit Co-operative Society Ltd., manager Montu Tank, staff members Vivek Tank and Nishant Dave and other associates.
According to the FIR, Doshi’s son, Hardik, had taken a business loan of Rs 2.5 lakh from the cooperative society in August 2018 for his garment business. The complainant stated that the family has repaid Rs 3.77 lakh towards the loan. However, financial difficulties during the Covid-19 pandemic and medical expenses incurred after Hardik’s wife suffered a paralytic attack affected their ability to make regular instalment payments.
Despite the repayments, the accused allegedly continued to demand an additional Rs 1.98 lakh, claiming it to be the outstanding balance. The complainant alleged that when Hardik sought a detailed account statement to verify and settle the dues, the society officials refused to provide one. The FIR further states that Solanki allegedly threatened Hardik and told him that the society recovered far more than the original loan amount and that settlements were not made easily. The accused are also alleged to have threatened to recover the money from other members of the family and issued death threats if the payment was not made.
Police said the complaint also accuses the society officials of misusing blank signed cheques obtained from Hardik and his guarantors as security at the time of loan sanction. According to the FIR, the accused allegedly used the cheques to initiate proceedings under the Negotiable Instruments Act and filed three cases in a Rajkot court while claiming an amount of Rs 6.23 lakh.
Doshi told police that the alleged physical, mental and financial harassment left the family with no option but to seek legal action. The FIR also mentions that several other individuals in the area were allegedly subjected to similar practices, and names of at least six other alleged victims have been cited in the complaint.
The accused have been booked under Sections 308(4), 351(3), 3(5) and 54 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
