Nanded farmer found dead in finance firm’s office; family alleges harassment over Rs 10,000 loan

• A 40-year-old farmer is found dead inside a private finance company’s office in Nanded, Maharashtra.

• His family alleges he was harassed over a Rs 10,000 loan and claims he was assaulted.

• Police are investigating, with the exact cause of death to be established through a post-mortem.

A 40-year-old farmer was found hanging inside the office of a private finance company in Maharashtra’s Nanded district, with his family alleging that he was harassed over a Rs 10,000 loan, officials said on Saturday.

The deceased, Chandrakant Shinde, a resident of Malkoutha village, owned two acres of agricultural land.

According to his family, employees of the finance company took him to the office on Wednesday in connection with recovery of the loan. He was found hanging inside the premises the following day.

The family alleged that the employees confined and fatally assaulted Shinde before hanging his body to make the death appear to be a suicide.

The allegations have not been independently established.

Police inspected the scene after being alerted. The process to register a case was underway at Vazirabad police station, inspector Ajit Kumbhar told PTI.

Nanded Superintendent of Police Neelabh Rohan said the exact cause of death would be determined after the post-mortem examination.

Local residents said coercive loan recovery practices were a concern, particularly as the Maharashtra government had directed finance companies not to visit the homes of drought-hit farmers to recover loans.