Aligarh (UP), Feb 4 (PTI) A 55-year-old daily wage labourer died of a heart attack after revenue officials visited his house in connection with a bank loan recovery, with his family alleging harassment and misbehaviour, police said on Wednesday.
The authorities have, however, denied the charges made by the labourer’s family.
The deceased, identified as Ismail, was taken by a team of revenue officials to the Tehsil office on Tuesday following default in repayment of an instalment of a Rs 1 lakh loan.
His condition deteriorated there, and he was rushed to the district hospital, where doctors declared him dead, officials said.
Circle Officer Sarvam Singh said Ismail’s family lodged a case of murder against the revenue officials at the Banna Devi police station on Tuesday evening.
“The matter is under investigation. The post-mortem report has confirmed that the cause of death was a heart attack,” the CO told reporters.
According to Ismail’s wife, Shabana Parveen, her husband had taken a loan of Rs 1 lakh from a private bank in 2014, mortgaging their 50-square-metre house as collateral.
She said Ismail and their son, who works as a daily wage carpenter, had been regularly repaying the instalments but recently defaulted on one payment due to financial constraints.
She said the bank approached the court, which subsequently issued recovery orders to the revenue department.
On Tuesday, when a recovery team arrived at their house in the congested Jiwangarh locality, the officials used “harsh and threatening language”, causing Ismail severe distress, Praveen told police.
Shabana alleged that the officials took her husband in their vehicle to the revenue office, where his health worsened.
“He went into shock after the officials misbehaved with him,” she claimed.
However, Additional District Magistrate (Administration) Pankaj Kumar denied the allegations, saying the recovery team did not act harshly and that Ismail came to the tehsil “on his own” after being served a notice.
Ismail is survived by his wife and two children. The family has demanded Rs 50 lakh as ex-gratia compensation for his death. PTI COR KIS SMV SMV HIG HIG
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