Pune: A Rs 12-13 lakh loan nobody admits to taking. A recovery agent who appears to know every inch of the family tree. And threatening calls that leave a household too frightened to keep their phones switched on.
The family, none of whom had any pending loans, was so unnerved by the constant harassment that its elderly members took to switching their phones off between 11 am and 5 pm. Further, the family says two complaints at the Wanowrie police chowkey on Oct 23 and 26 had no effect. The family approached the Wanowrie police chowkey on Oct 23, but says their complaint wasn’t accepted. The family lodged another complaint on Oct 26 when the calls didn’t stop.
The police gave us an acknowledgement after much convincing,” Sukhramani says. “These seem to be system-generated calls,” Sukhramani says. We only ever borrowed from banks and repaid them on time,” Sukhramani said.
The calls continue and the family lives in fear. “We filled up an online FIR form and submitted it at the chowkey. Things then got worse — Sukhramani started getting OTPs from various e-commerce and delivery platforms. Desperate and frightened, the family even offered to let the police surveil their phones. “We are under so much pressure … we have never downloaded any loan apps.
Deepak Sukhramani (63) and his family in Pune have been living this nightmare since Oct 22, when a man claiming to be a loan recovery agent made an invective- and threat-laced phone call, not even sparing his pregnant daughter-in-law and 92-year-old mother.
Sukhramani says one such abusive call, when he pressed the caller for details, shook him. He said, ‘Kunal’s brother Mayur.’” Sukhramani said Mayur was his daughter-in-law’s cousin. “His knowledge of even my extended family completely spooked me,” he says. “I told him I would give him Mayur’s number, but he wasn’t interested.
“I asked him who had taken the loan. The caller threatened to keep calling until the loan was repaid. He kept making abusive, threatening calls to everyone in my family,” Sukhramani adds. “When you and your family are constantly threatened and abused over calls, you live in constant fear. Every ring sends your anxiety soaring,” he added.