The relatives of deceased Mohammad Tufail Shah, 26, who committed suicide on April 27 ostensibly due to continuous threats from the loan recovery staff of the Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB), fear that they will face more harassment even after his demise of their loved one.

According to them, the recovery staff’s misbehaviour with Tufail’s sister was the main reason that he committed suicide. They further said that the local police and the Nazim had visited the place and ensured full support to the family.

Ashi, the deceased’s sister, said that at around 5.30 p.m. a person, who later introduced himself as Atif, a staff member of the recovery team of the MCB, arrived at their doorstep and asked for her brother. “Tufail was taking shower; but as the recovery staff were threatening him, I lied to Atif and said that he (Tufail) was in Hyderabad for some work,” she admitted.

According to Ashi, Atif verbally misbehaved with her and grabbed her by the wrist. The neighbours and a youngster playing in the ground in front of the house all gathered and scolded him and ordered him to leave the house immediately, on which the recovery staff member, Atif, departed.

“I informed Tufail about the incident after he walked out of the washroom. After I told him, he returned to his room without saying anything,” she said, and added that, “Later, I went to the kitchen to cook dinner and, around Maghrib, when I knocked at his door.” There was no reply, she said, after which they entered into the room, and saw his body hanging from the ceiling fan.

On the eve of funeral of the deceased, the relatives of Tufail faced harassment once again when one of the representatives of Afroze Textiles, where Tufail was participated in ‘voluntary contribution’, came and demanded the due money.

The relatives told The News that when they were offering the funeral prayers of the deceased after the Zohar time on Monday, April 28, at the New Karachi No. 6 Graveyard, a member of the recovery staff of a bank (he did not mention the bank’s name) came to the house and once again asked for the money.

Tufail, who associated with an LPG business in the area, was already facing mental agony due to the frequent visits of the bank’s recovery staff. He had purchased a shop in a local area, but, Hanif Surti, the former Nazim of the Town, demolished his newly-purchased shop causing him a huge financial loss, which he could not recover from till his death, a family member said.

He was already running a rental shop in Madina Colony, Sector 5-G, New Karachi, for the last 20 years and was quite optimistic about his future after he purchased a new shop. He believed that it would help him make good money to enable him to arrange the marriage of his sister as early as possible, his family members added.

The deceased married Kanwal some 11 months ago and had a 40-day-old daughter, named Iman. Both his wife and daughter were at his in-laws’ house and were supposed to return home the day he committed suicide.

The bank recovery staff claimed that Tufail had to pay back their loans, whereas they did not have any documentary proof in this regard, Afsar Alam, father-in-law of the deceased, told The News. The amount they claimed was Rs1.5 million. “Tufail told me that he had some loan, but never disclosed the amount,” Alam said.

Furthermore, Alam, quoting the claims of a recovery staff member, said that Tufail had not payed his dues since the last couple of months. Since then, the recovery staff of the bank were threatening Tufail and often visited his house at awkward times, Alam added.

The recovery staffs of MCB, UBL, NIB and Standard Chartered were all claiming that Tufail had to pay-off loans taken from their respective banks, but none of them proved that he owed anything, the family alleged.

“He (Tufail) had nothing to deposit as a guarantee; as per bank policy, he has to put valuable property as mortgage to avail a loan. If we are to believe that he had loan from the banks, then why did the bank officials approve his loan application without verifying his application?” they asked.

Tufail, fifth among his six siblings, lost his father at a very early age and lived with his elderly mother and unmarried sister in house number R-93 on rent in Sector 11-L, New Karachi. He had shifted to the place some five years ago and before that he owned a family house in the same locality. The deceased was the only breadwinner of the family.

His only brother, Sohail, was living with his own family in Baldia Town for the past few years. The Station House Officer, New Karachi, Pervez Gujjar, said that no FIR had lodged so far and the police was looking for Atif and Rizwan, another member of the recovery staff of a bank to interrogate them on the matter.