80-year-old woman 'locked up and beaten' as daughter-in-law fails to repay loan

A woman aged 80 was allegedly locked up for four hours and beaten up mercilessly by Mahila Samiti authorities on Thursday because the victim’s daughter-in-law failed to repay the loan she had taken from the outfit. The incident took place at Ganja village under Rajakanika police limits in Kendrapara district. 

According to sources, the victim’s daughter-in-law had not been able to pay installment amount due to financial crisis despite the outfit president Gayatri Mohanty’s repeated reminders. 

Members of the outfit reached the house of Puja when she had taken her ailing husband to nearby hospital and locked Puja’s mother-in-law Saraswati Ray for four hours in the absence of Puja.

A few youths informed police in this regard following which the cops rescued the elderly woman and admitted her to a hospital.  

“Gayatri came to our house when Puja was not there and asked for money. She returned when I said we would repay it soon. She came back after some time and locked me inside a room and tried to slit my neck and threw me away,” alleged Saraswati.

In her response to the allegations, Gayatri said, “I know I have done wrong. I am also a poor. If I keep donating money like this, how can I survive... They even used foul words when I asked to return my money.”

However, Puja said, “We had taken Rs 40,000 loan from her. We have been paying installment amount of Rs 1500 for the last five months. As I got delayed for two hours to give money, she locked my mother-in-law.”