Statement of Yogesh kumar, S/o Shivraj Singh Talwar, R/0 C 87 Shivdurga Vihar, Near Pul Pehladpur.
I am a member of Manushi Sangathan and was allotted stall number C87 in Sewa Nagar pilot project. My mother Saroj devi has stall number E 22.
In April 2003, Manoj Kumar alias Shiv Kumar of Sewa Nagar (Stall No. ) persuaded me against my mother's wishes into taking a loan of Rs 35,000 at an interest rate of Rs 10% per month to buy goods for my stall. He told me if invested more money into buying stock for my stall I would be earning much more money. From May 2003 to December 2005 Manoj took Rs 3500 per month by way of interest. Because I have a wife and two small daughters to support, I was finding this interest amount very burdensome especially because the principal amount stayed the same. From January 2006 to March 2006 I was unable to pay the monthly interest to Manoj (Shiv Kumar). At this Manoj began to pressure me to transfer the stall in his name. He told me either I should give him lumpsum of Rs 50,000 or transfer my stall in his name. When my mother heard of this she came and argued with him that his demand for the stall was illegal and that we would never agree to those terms. When we resisted this demand, Mahipal Basoya joined Manoj in pressuring and threatening me. They would even make threatening calls to my wife at home. They both insisted that I should join their Kameti group for 2 lakh rupees, lift the money and pay off my debt to Manoj. I had no choice but to agree even though I was very afraid of joining their Kameti since it meant paying a hefty monthly installment ranging from Rs 7000 to Rs 8000 per month which I could ill afford.
The Kameti was actually in Manoj's name but they made me join it in March 2006, six months later than other members. This in itself meant additional interest payment for the late installments. In September and forced me to lift the Kameti at a loss of Rs 60,000. In addition, Manoj took away Rs 70, 000 as his dues on the loan of Rs 35, 000 he had originally given me. I was given merely Rs 30,000 in hand for a Kameti of Rs 200,000. Mahipal claimed the rest of the amount as penalty for joining six months late. Mahipal charges 10% interest per month or a penalty of Rs 100 per day when someone defaults on installments.
After that for one whole year I paid an instalment for the 2 lakh Kameti ranging from Rs 7000 per month to Rs 8,000 per month. Thus I paid over 80, 000 rupees to Mahipal for the Kameti. But this hefty installment meant that I was left with no money whatsoever for my household expenditure. This created a lot of tension in my family. Therefore, some eight months ago I stopped paying Kameti installments. At this Mahipal and Manoj began to put all kinds pressure on me, they would abuse and threaten me to pay the instalments. When in September 2007 Mahipal demanded Rs 80, 000 from me by way of Kameti dues, I told him I did not have such a hefty amount to give him. They insisted that my mother should take a loan since she had been compelled to stand guarantee for my Kameti. My mother is too poor to afford that kind of loan so she refused. Mahipal and Manoj told me that either I should pay them their dues or transfer my stall to them. If I refused their demand I would be beaten out of the market.
I knew this was not an empty threat. I had seen them beat up Raju who sells Kharode in Sewa Nagar. Raju is a strong man with many strong brothers and yet Raju was forced to withdraw the police case against Basoyas because they threatened him with more harm. I had also seen them beat up Rajkumar, Mehboob, Yaseen Shahid and others. Babli Basoya had also attacked Santosh from our market and ran with a danda to beat her up in full view of the whole market. Basoya brothers have a big gang of anti social elements who get drunk every night in the project area near their Tempo stand. They also have a large number drivers and cleaners for their tempos who join together as a lawless mob to beat up whoever dares resist them. Manoj and Mahipal are together in the money lending business and number of persons like Mohan Yadav, Umesh, Shripal, Managl in the market are under their debt. Therefore, they make these persons obey their commands. I have seen that they took away the stalls of Sanju, Urmila, Jaisingh and some others in the same manner. They are out to grab the stalls of project members in this manner one by one. That is why they are trying to force Manushi Sangathan to quit the Sewa Nagar project because Manushi made every one of us sign a Shapath Patra that we will neither sell nor rent out the stalls.
I was terrified of them and was afraid that they might harm my family. My wife was also getting frightened of their threatening and abusive phone calls since we used to live in a Sewa Nagar itself. We even sold off our mobile due to their debts. Since I was unwilling to sell my stall and unable to pay them the demanded sum, Manoj and Mahipal forcibly took away my scooter, which my father had purchased in my name with great difficulty. The scooter had cost us nearly 45,000 rupees since we had taken it on installments from a finance company. This was the only major asset I owned. But they forced me to mortgage it with Bhaagt Singh who gave Mahipal Rs 10,000 toward the interest payment they claimed from me. This loan from Bhagat Singh is also at 10% rate of interest. On top of it Mahipal told me I owed him Rs 80,000 for the Kameti and for every month of default I have to pay 10% rate of interest.
Since Mahipal was hell bent on making me sign away my stall in his name to pay for the Kameti and the interest, two months ago I fled from Sewa Nagar and went into hiding with some relatives because I was afraid I would be beaten and coerced into signing documents of transfer of my stall to Mahipal's name. Therefore, I just left the market without even telling my mother where I was hiding. In my absence they started harassing my mother for money. They told her that she should not only sell them my stall but even the stall allotted in her name. They offered her Rs 50,000 for her stall and said that they would return my stall after I had cleared my debt. Since they were harassing my old mother no end finally I had to return home to her.
On a loan of Rs 35,000 I have already paid them more than Rs 3,63,000 by way of interest and they are claiming nearly 100000 rupees more from me as shown in the following account:
1) Interest given to Manoj at Rs 3500 per month for 32 months: ……..Rs 112,000.
2) Amount taken by Manoj from the 2 lakh Rs Kameti………………..Rs 70,000
3) The amount forfeited by Mahipal on Kameti
by forcing me to encash it in advance…………………………………..Rs 60,000
4) Installments paid for Kameti for one year…………………….Rs 80,000 approx
5) Loss of scooter…………………………………………………Rs 41,000
TOTAL..paid so far...... 3,63,000
6) Money still claimed by Mahipal……………………………….Rs 80,000 plus add on interest
7) Money claimed by Bhagat Singh……………………………..Rs 10,000 plus interest
Even though the scooter is kept on mortgage, I have heard that they are trying to sell it.
I request you to save me from this soodkhor mafia who have taken away all my earnings since the last three years by getting me trapped in debt. The lives of all our family members are in danger from these persons.