Till Debt Do Us Apart

It’s an investigation into the snare and snarl of debt, deceit, and deception. It led to the vilification of thousands of borrowers, and a dozen suicides. The regulators and industry experts were caught napping

- Jyotika Sood and Prashant Srivastav

It’s a giant mobile-digital loan scandal. Like a tarantula’s, its web stretches outwards to Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia and China. In India, the reach is seen in several states such as Delhi, Maharashtra, Telangana, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka. Tens of thousands of borrowers are trapped in this net’s grip. Most were harassed, abused, and vilified, and some committed suicide. Hundreds of global and Indian companies, and thousands of thuggish recovery agents are involved in it.

Months after the scam was unearthed, the investigators were unable to put a figure on its size. In Telangana, contends Shikha Goel, Hyderabad’s Additional Commissioner of Police, ₹25,000 crore was involved, which included repeated loan deals. The state police froze ₹350 crore in 435 bank accounts. But this is only the tip of an iceberg. As the central enforcement directorate and states’ criminal investigation departments get into the act, the numbers can be five to 10 times higher.

The masterminds of the deathly rip-off are Chinese nationals, young globetrotters in their late twenties and early thirties, based in China and India. At present, five Chinese and 36 Indians are behind bars. The former include the brains behind the pains of the borrowers, and their families and friends. The 27-year-old Zhu Wei (Lambo), who was arrested at the Delhi International Airport, heads a few global companies that were involved in the fraudulent loans.