'Credit card dues waived if you sleep with boss'

Customer who defaulted in paying Rs 35,000 credit card bill after brother's hospitalisation files FIR for intimidation

Customer who defaulted in paying Rs 35,000 credit card bill after brother's hospitalisation files FIR for intimidation

The MRA Marg police have registered a case against a credit card debt recovery agent (DRA) who allegedly tried to sexually harass and intimidate a client.

On December 23, the agent allegedly called the woman and said, "Sleep with my boss and I'll write off your debts,"u00a0adding, "Tu tere boss ke saath jaise soti hai, waise mere boss ke saath bhi so... Tu ghar se kapde pahankar nikalti hai."

MRA Marg's senior inspector Sanjeev Kokil told MiD DAY that a case has been registered against the HDFC agent Amit Joshi under Section 509 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.

Called four times

The agent called the woman four times, and on the fourth call, the victim recorded the telephonic conversation. This conversation, recorded on a CD, was handed over to the police, said Kokil.

Predator: The HDFC Bank recovery agent allegedly told a woman to pay off her dues by sleeping with his boss, which turned out to be the man himself.

According to the FIR, the 28-year-old Borivli resident is a telecom executive working with one of India's largest private sector companies.

The distressed customer claimed she had used the card to pay hospital bills of her critically-ill brother and a payment of Rs 35,000 had been due for four weeks.

The FIR stated that Joshi had pressured her to pay off the dues for the past four weeks, and when she could not pay up, he called her office around 9.30 am and told her to pay off her debts by sleeping with his boss.

Office visit

A few hours later Joshi followed up the call by sending his associate Anand Kumar to the victim's office to collect the dues.

Anand introduced himself and gave her his mobile number. When the victim inquired about Joshi, she was told that he was the boss.

Anand gave the woman Joshi's office address, which helped her present a watertight case against the aggressor.

Investigators are trying to find out why Joshi did not use legal methods to recover the dues and had to resort to making sexual overtures.

Police are also planning to apply the IT Act as the conversation has been recorded on the phone, said police sources.

The Other Side

HDFC Bank spokesperson Neeraj Jha said he was unaware of this incident and refused to comment on the case.

RBI Rules

HDebt recovery agents are not allowed to enter a person's home without permission. They have to carry an identification card with them at all times. RBI rules also lay down that the DRAs can contact customers only between 7 am and 7 pm and has to maintain civil discourse. The customer is not to be humiliated publicly or in front of his family members. Sarvankar case Constant harassment by recovery agents appointed by ICICI Bank led one of their personal loan customers to kill himself in 2007. Prakash Sarvankar, a 38-year-old customer of ICICI Bank, committed suicide leaving a one-page note in Marathi saying he had taken the step after receiving threats from loan recovery agents working for ICICI.