Posted on: 27-09-07 15:24:21
ICICI Bk gives Rs 15L to suicide victim's family
Ten days after being blamed for the suicide of 38-year old Prakash Sarvankar, ICICI Bank has given his family an ex-gratia payment of more than Rs 15 lakhs, reports CNBC-TV18.
Six-year old Prajakta was witness to her father being harassed by Recovery agents of ICICI Bank, when he defaulted on a loan of Rs 50,000, which the bank describes as “small ticket”. Fed up of the insults, on September 17, Prakash Sarvankar hanged himself and blamed recovery agents of the ICICI Bank in his suicide note.
The incident evoked strong reactions from activists, who blamed the bank for using strong arm tactics. Now the bank has announced an ex-gratia payment to Sarvankar's family, which includes a fixed deposit, which will give her about Rs 9,500 a month and insurance of Rs 25 lakh over 20 years.
But Sarvankar's widow is still inconsolable.
“ He is not going to come back,” said Priyanka Sarvankar, Prakash Sarvankar's widow.
Consumer organisations welcome the move, but demand stricter checks and balances on banks.
"Even the senior most official, in this case the CEO of the bank, is responsible for this,” said Vinod Chand, General Secretary, Credit Consumers Association of India.
The payment may be an unusual move for, but police say that it will not affect investigations against the bank.
For now four men are under arrest for abetting Sarvankar's suicide. One of them is the owner of the recovery agency, and another, Kailash Choudhary, is an employee of I-Process. The police are investigating whether senior officials of the bank are responsible as well.
http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/business/icici-bk-gives-rs-15l-to-suicide-victims-family/01/10/305285
Recovery agents have become smarter at finding you. They register as recruitment agencies and download databases from naukri, jobsahead, monster or any of the other job websites.
They mine the data and collect contact information. They also sell/share with other recovery agencies.
So if you do owe them money make sure your phone no. and address are not on your job profile. Just your email id is enough.
