more-in Four members of a Dalit family attempted suicide here on Wednesday as they were unable to endure coercion by a money lender, who had charged them exorbitant interest, the police said. Eight persons have been arrested. The quartet — Saravanan, 45, of Mariammal Kovilpatti village, his wife S. Sugadha, 40, and daughters S. Vaishnavi, 16 and Vaishali, 14 — consumed poison around 5 a.m. Their neighbours rushed them to the Theni Government Medical College Hospital. Villagers besieged the Palani Chettipatti police station, seeking action against the money lender. Cases have been registered under Sections 147, 294 (4) and 506 (1) of the Indian Penal Code, Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Exorbitant Interest Ordinance Act and Sections 402 3(1) and 3 (2) (v) of The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, against B. Suruli Raj, Selvam, G. Lakshmanan, G. Muthuramalingam, Sankara Narayanan, A. Kaliappan G. Lakshmanan and A. Kaliappan of Silamalai, all of whom have been arrested. Sugadha had given a petition to Superintendent of Police V. Baskaran at a grievance day meeting last week, but no to no avail, her relatives said. She had stated in her petition that she had borrowed ?2 lakh for 5% interest from Suruli Raj four years ago. The latter, in turn, had collected seven blank cheques and two promissory notes from her as assurance. The family subsequently settled the principal amount of ?2 lakh along with interest of ?1.75 lakh two years ago. But when she requested Suruli Raj to return the blank cheques and the promissory notes, he refused. Stating that the amount paid until then had been deducted as interest, he demanded that she pay the principal amount. The petitioner alleged that on November 19, the accused persons came to her house and coerced her family to sign on 100 stamp papers and register the house in their name. The accused even threatened to kill her and her family if they did not accede to the demands, she claimed. Help is available on the State’s helpline 104 and Sneha’s suicide prevention line 044-24640050.

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