Hyderabad: With illegal financiers squeezing money out of daily wagers and lower middle class families the South Zone police has launched efforts to crack down on them.
The police has prepared a list of 50 financiers in the old city and are exploring ways to put them behind bars. If the police launch operations that would be one of the biggest busts ever in the city. After the recent daylight murder of a trader by an illegal financier the police has already arrested many of them.
Police said the list was prepared based on complaints and with the help of informants. “Many are doing this secretly, but we have collected details about them,” said a senior police official.
Many of these ‘shylocks’ collect around 25% interest every month. They also have criminal backgrounds and rowdy sheets registered against them. Threats and violence are their main weapons. In the past, even if the victim approached the police it did not make any difference. The trader, Md. Javed, from Chatta bazar, had called the police for help hours before his murder. But he was stabbed by financier Hassan Bin Ibrahim Al Zabri in broad daylight.
Now, the police says that things have changed. “Earlier very few victims used to come to the police. We are now getting frequent complaints as the victims are free to approach us. Based on complaints we have prepared a list of loan sharks and will arrest them soon,” said DCP Satyanarayana.
The police is planning to use the Telangana Money Lending Act, Section 384 (extortion), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 420 (cheating).
But, one hiccup the police may face is the fickleness of complainants who change versions. “In the case of financier Bada Maha-mood the victim changed his version when we were about to take action. The victims are influenced with money or threatened,” said DCP Satyana-rayana.
