Page 98 - A Banker Down the Rabbit Hole

reported by us. The two witnesses turned hostile overnight on the pretext
that bank managers and staff would get transferred but the witnesses
would stay in the locality with the miscreant. They did not want
permanent enmity with him because of outsiders. The only witnesses
were our staff members which according to the Station House Officer
(SHO), would not be relied upon for testimony to file the charge sheet in
court.

We contacted the Zonal Manager and reported the incident to him that
one defaulter borrower had threatened to kill us if we file suit against
him. We had taken personal accident insurance of Rs. 1 lakh each. He
pacified us by saying, "If you have been threatened by your borrower, I
also have been threatened by one of our Branch Managers not to visit
his branch otherwise I will get killed. I also have taken insurance cover
of Rs. 2 lakh." He assured us to extend his full support for whatever
possible legal steps we might take and advised us to engage a competent
criminal lawyer of the city to handle this incident.

We met a retired Sessions Judge for consultation and guidance. He told
us that under the circumstances, he could be detained at Police Station
for one night as prohibitory measure and would have to be let off the
next day. In that situation he would harbor permanent enmity. Moreover,
the inhabitants of the branch area would usually support their resident
and treat us all as outsiders, as was seen from the witnesses turning
hostile already. As we had to stay there during working hours, we should
go for some other solution. He advised us that in case we could speak to
the SHO to get some written assurance from the borrower not to repeat
such behavior, it would be the best solution. He assured us that he would
use his good offices also to speak to the SHO to thrash out a resolution
as proposed by him.

We also got the unsolicited support of some influential customers in the
neighboring area who were a bit head strong and used to intimidate the
ordinary people. They met the borrower and asked him to fight with them

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