Jamuna Das (45) committed suicide by hanging himself to a tree in front of his house in Bhadrekhi village in Jalaun district of Bundelkhand, while his family was fast asleep on the night of December 29.

He is survived by his wife, three sons and six daughters.

According to his wife Rajulika, Das had received a recovery notice by Allahabad Bank (Babai branch) in the last week of July for the non-existent loan. “After the notice, he was extremely stressed,” she added.

Das’s 17-year-old son Rajpal told The Indian Express that some unidentified persons took the loan in his father’s name by submitting fake papers.

He also alleged that the some unauthorised brokers, in nexus with bank officials, had acquired illegal loans for their kin leaving innocent villagers to face action.

Rajulika said her husband ran from pillar to post to prove his innocence but the bank authorities put pressure on him to ‘return’ the amount.

“He wrote to the chief minister, district magistrate, Atta police and other officials but no one helped him,” she said.

When The Indian Express reached the Allahabad Bank (Babai branch), it discovered that the then branch manager Sher Singh was lodged in Orai jail, with over 15 cases of loan-related frauds registered against him.

Station Officer, Churkhi police station, A K Srivastava told The Indian Express that cases had been lodged under section 420, 466, 486, 479, 120(b) and the Gangster Act. “Sher Singh along with two brokers Virendra Singh and Lalji Singh were arrested from Jhansi and sent to jail on November 19, 2007,” he added.

Jalaun District Magistrate R Sampheal told The Indian Express that the administration has taken very serious note of the incident.

He said a huge racket, including bank officials, was active in the area and the police was making full efforts to identify the guilty. “I have written to the bank authorities asking them not to issue recovery notices to the villagers without proper inquiry,” he added.

He further said that anyone found involved in unauthorised recovery of loans will be booked.

Another Dalit labourer of the same village, Shyam Babu is also the victim of the bank-broker nexus.

Father of seven, Babu questioned, “How can the bank hand over a loan of Rs 50,000 on my land which costs hardly Rs 40,000?”

He also reiterated Rajpal’s claim that corrupt bank officials distribute loans to unauthorised persons in the name of poor villagers.

“I have written to Chief Minister Mayawati and senior police officers in this regard,” he added.