THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even as the blade mafia thrives by looting the people, it appears that the government is sleeping without taking any legal action. More than two dozen people lost their lives due to the threats of the blade mafia. The latest example of blade mafia-induced suicide was in Kadinamkulam where a couple and their 23-year-old daughter set themselves ablaze. Many people are on the verge of suicide. Most people borrowed money at exorbitant interest rates to overcome the income and employment crisis caused during the Covid period. Suicides happen when the debt accumulates with many times the interest of the borrowed money.
Not even a single case has been registered against the blade mafia in the last three years. The blade mafia lends money by accepting property, vehicle records and cheques as collaterals. If the interest is due, it will be added to the principal and written on the cheque. The debt will not get over even if the borrower pays four times the principal amount. The money generally given as debts by the blade mafia is the Benami money of big guns. Interest collection is carried out by criminal gangs. These gangs threaten the borrower and force him to hand over his property in writing. The borrower will then be evicted from this property on the basis of signed documents.
It has been alleged that the police are not taking action even after receiving complaints about the blade mafia. In some places, the blade mafia has the connivance of the police. In Kottayam, a DySP was the main link of the blade mafia. It was a CI who asked a farmer in Palakkad to sign the stamp paper after writing the amount demanded by the blade mafia. On another occasion, high-ranking police officials' bribe money was loaned out at interest in Thiruvananthapuram's Chalai market, and police personnel were tasked with collecting the interest.