Mumbai, March 14: An investigation ordered by the metropolitan magistrate railway mobile court on Friday could end the nightmare of Dr Kalpana Singh, 41, at the hands of recovery agents.
The court, after taking cognisance of Singh’s complaint, has ordered the police to conduct an investigation under section 156(3) of the criminal procedure code (CrPC) against Chanda Kochar, managing director (MD) of ICICI Bank, C Venkatesh, the debt manager, recovery agents Satish, Pawankumar Kanojia and Indrajit and five other employees of ICICI Bank, who have been named in Singh’s complaint.
Singh, who suffers from a handicap, had said in her complaint that the recovery agents threatened her and her family members with sexual assaults and dire consequences. Under section 156 (3) of the CrPC, the magistrate has the power to order an investigation and registration of a first information report (FIR), if necessary.
Singh’s complaint states that she had taken a personal loan of Rs3 lakh from ICICI Bank in 2004, which she subsequently increased to Rs10 lakh in December 2005. “The recovery agents started making repeated calls to me since July 2008. But since August that year, they became very aggressive,” Singh told DNA.
In September 2008, Singh stated, Satish came to her Andheri residence to collect an installment of Rs4000. Singh was not at home and the recovery agent allegedly grabbed her maid with the “intent to outrage her modesty”. In January 2009, Singh’s minor nephew was home alone when Kanojia, who also came to collect an EMI, offered to have sex with him. This, Singh said, was brought to the notice of the bank employees who said that Kanojia’s act “had nothing to do with them.”
The ultimate horror, however, befell Singh on March 14, 2009 when Indrajit pushed her and threatened to rape her when he came to collect money the next time. “I was also abused in the most filthy language. He said that I should sell myself in a brothel to get the money paid,” Singh’s complaint states.
At the Andheri police station, however, Singh waited two hours and alleged that the police “manipulated” her complaint and suppressed important parts of it after ICICI Bank officials arrived there. Her advocates Pradeep Havnur and Pritha Dave told the court that despite her complaint, the police had taken no action against the recovery agents or the banks till date.
Spokesperson for ICICI Bank, Charudatta Deshpande, said, “I have not seen the court’s order myself and not even been appraised by our legal department regarding the case. Hence, I cannot comment on the order as of now.” He, however, added that sometimes senior officers like the MD are involved in cases just to draw attention or owing to their designation.
Observing that there are “serious crimes alleged to have been committed,” the magistrate has asked the police to submit the investigation report by June 25.
–Agencies–