Moneylender held for charging exorbitant interest

The CCB arrested a financier who allegedly charged exorbitant interest rates.

Nagaraj Shetty, 42, from Vyalikaval who ran a finance company called Balaji Finance, lent money to businessmen in and around Vyalikaval and Malleswaram.

Police raided his house following complaints registered that he charged exorbitant interest. They seized 164 cheques, 84 on-demand promissory notes, besides property documents forcefully taken from borrowers and Rs 22 lakh in cash, a senior official said.

The official said Shetty was charging 6-10% interest by holding these documents as collateral. Those failing to pay back the money had been slapped with even higher interests.

Sunil Kumar, a cloth merchant in Malleswaram, borrowed Rs 5 lakh from Nagaraj in 2017. Though he was paying back the money regularly, Nagaraj kept demanding more money. Kumar lodged a complaint with Vyalikaval police. City police commissioner Kamal Pant transferred the case to the CCB.

The officer said people who lost money to Shetty can file a complaint against him at the CCB head office in Chamarajpet.