A disagreement over an unpaid loan and accumulating interest is said to have spiralled into a two-day ordeal on August 27 for a domestic worker and her young son, who were allegedly abducted, held against their will, beaten, and threatened with a leaked video after being forced to undress. Police have since arrested three of the four people named in the case.
The complainant, identified only as Fathima (name changed to protect her identity), works as a domestic help. She had taken Rs 50,000 from one of the accused, Nazath Begum, on the understanding that she would clear it in weekly instalments of Rs 5,000.
Separately, around two years earlier, she had borrowed Rs 1 lakh from another accused, Reshma Banu, and had been servicing that loan through monthly interest payments. Fathima told investigators that money troubles left her unable to keep up with either repayment schedule.
She alleged that Reshma began showing up at her house and calling repeatedly to press for the overdue interest, which eventually led her to block Reshma’s numbers. When the calls allegedly continued through Reshma’s mother instead, Fathima said she stayed away from her own home for close to two months to avoid the harassment.
On August 27, Nazath reportedly phoned Fathima, telling her she had some paid work for her. Fathima went to Nazath’s home in Metro Layout that evening, arriving around 5:30 pm with her younger son.
While she was feeding the child inside the house, Nazath stepped out to speak with someone. Shortly after, Reshma arrived along with her husband Suhail and two other men, and the group locked the door behind them, according to the complaint.
Also read: Tamil Nadu grounds its ambitious Parandur airport project, will look for new site
Fathima told police that Suhail then confronted her over the money, demanding Rs 11 lakh — a figure that included accumulated interest — and struck her hand with a knife when she could not pay. When her son began wailing, she alleged that Reshma and Suhail turned on her, hitting her and taking away her phone.
At around 7 pm, mother and son were pushed into an autorickshaw and driven to another house near Kumbalagodu. There, Fathima said, Nazath and Suhail told her she would have to work as a sex worker to clear her debt, and warned that other men would be brought to the house if she refused.
Also read: Jaish-e-Mohammed’s base in Pakistan, destroyed in Operation Sindoor, now rebuilt, operational
The two were locked inside a room overnight. Fathima said she fell ill with fever the next day but was assaulted again — this time, she alleged, by Nazath, Suhail and a third man, Saif.
That evening, she claimed Nazath forced her to strip and filmed her on video, threatening to make the recording public if the debt went unpaid.
The following day, Reshma, Suhail and Nazath reportedly took her to a lawyer’s office near a local market and had her sign a set of documents before bringing her back to the house in Kumbalagodu.
Fathima eventually got word to her family during a brief moment when she was allowed out of the room to use the toilet. Her relatives alerted the police, who traced the house and freed her and her son.
Chandra Layout police have arrested Nazath, Reshma and Suhail — two women and one man — in connection with the case and are pursuing further investigation, including into the role of the fourth accused. The mobile phones seized from those held have been sent to a forensic science laboratory in an effort to recover data, including the video Fathima says was recorded during her captivity.
Investigators are also examining the papers Fathima was made to sign at the lawyer’s office, to determine whether they were intended to transfer property or otherwise formalise a claim over her alleged debt. A case has been registered against all four accused, and police say the search for the absconding fourth suspect is ongoing.
