The body of a farmer was found in a rubber plantation near his house at Kelakkavala, near Pulpally, in the district on Tuesday morning. The farmer had been missing since Monday night.
The police identified the deceased as Rajendran Nair, 55, of Kizhakke Ilayidathu, at Chempakamoola under the Pulpally police station limits.
His relatives said he had borrowed nearly ₹73,000 from the Primary Service Cooperative Bank at Pulpally in 2017 by mortgaging his 70 cents of land. But as per the bank records, Rajendran Nair had borrowed ₹25 lakh. Earlier a group of loanees, including Rajendran Nair, had complained that the former governing council had swindled of the rest of the money. They also staged protest in front of the bank demanding a Vigilance investigation into the issue. Later, the Vigilance conducted a probe and the case is under the consideration of the Kerala High Court.
It was suspected that the debt forced Rajendran Nair to take the extreme step, his relatives alleged.
According to the records at the Pulpally Service Cooperative Bank, the farmer, who had borrowed a loan of ₹25 lakh by mortgaging the land, on August 31 , 2017 currently had arrears to the tune of nearly ₹40 lakh, including interest, T.P. Sasidharan, president of the bank, said.
The bank filed an arbitration case in 2020 to the Cooperative department to recover the pending amount and it was awarded in 2021, he added.
(Suicide Prevention Helpline 104, DISHA -1056, Thanal Suicide Prevention Centre - 0495 - 2760000.)
