A farmer’s pregnant daughter was allegedly run over by loan recovery agents of Mahindra Finance while she was protesting against confiscating the family’s tractor for defaulting on payment in Jharkhand’s Hazaribag district. Hours after the incident, Anish Shah, MD & CEO of Mahindra Group stated on Twitter, saying that he assures all support to the authorities will be provided during the investigation and the company will also review the practice of using third-party collection agencies.
Shah, in a statement, said: “We are deeply saddened and disturbed by the Hazaribagh incident. A human tragedy has occurred. We will investigate this incident from all aspects and will also undertake an examination of the practice of using third-party collection agencies that has been in existence. We will extend all possible support to the authorities during the investigation into this tragic incident and, above all, we stand with the family in this moment of grief.”
According to media reports, 27-year-old Monica, the pregnant daughter of farmer Mithilesh Mehta who availed a loan from Mahindra Finance to buy a tractor, died after a recovery agent allegedly ran the tractor over her.
Moreover, Anand Mahindra, Chairman of Mahindra Group, retweeted Shah’s tweet and said, “This is a terrible tragedy. I strongly support @anishshah21’s statement. Our hearts go out to the family in this time of grief.”
Reportedly, Monica had resisted when the recovery agents wanted to confiscate the tractor over non-payment of instalments. The deceased was also reported to be pregnant.
“We have received a complaint from the family. We are in the process of registering an FIR in the case. The family has given the name of one Roshan Singh and others. After initial investigations, we have identified those behind the incident. We are booking the accused under section 302 of IPC (murder). We will arrest them soon,” reported Hindustan Times quoting Hazaribag superintendent of police Manoj Ratan Chothe.
The SP further added that “The woman lay on the road in protest against the agents taking the tractor away. As crowd started building up, the group sped away in the car and ran over the woman in the process. They left the tractor behind.”
Chothe also revealed that Mehta hadn’t made payments worth Rs 1.2 lakh for the tractor accumulating from the last six months.