The clerk from Patiala House Court asked for Ram, the
Assistant Manager. When told that Ram was coming in later in the day, he said
that non – bailable warrants were being issued against him. The restaurant
receptionist hurriedly passed the receiver to me. I asked him what the matter
was but he just repeated that this was urgent and then gave me the number of
one Ms. Priyanka who he said was the lawyer for the other side and could
elaborate. I called the lady who was as elusive as him, refusing to divulge any
details unless Ram called her ASAP. Unless the matter was resolved amicably,
the court would issue non-bailable warrants against him on Delhi Police’s
request, she added.
I called Ram who was clueless and gave him the details. In
the meanwhile I called the Proprietor who asked me to keep him in the loop.
After 15 minutes Ram called back to say that this was about a personal loan
he’d taken and that he’ll explain when he arrives. Meanwhile the law court
clerk called again asking if the parties had come to any resolution.
Ram finally arrived and explained that he’d stopped paying installments
on a personal loan taken three years ago after just 2-3 installments due to
dire financial straits. Eighty percent of the INR 30,000 odd was still due.
He’d tried to come to an understanding with the bank but they refused &
kept increasing the penalty interest. Ram was apologetic for the mess he was in
and promised to resolve it.
I explained this to the Proprietor who said that this wasn’t
any of our business and that there was no way a non-bailable warrant could be
issued for this. According to him the Bank must’ve outsourced the task to some
loan recovery agents, some of whom were pretending to be lawyers & law
court clerks.
When the person claiming to be the court clerk called again
I raised these doubts, asking him why he should be bothered with this. After
all if this matter was listed in court, it would get settled there and whether
or not it got resolved/ a party showed up or not shouldn’t concern him at all.
He dilly-dallied and hung up.
Shortly thereafter the phone calls started. In one outlet
after another abusive women called up, hurling the choicest swear words. I
received panic calls and explained to Outlet in charges what the matter was. When
I got to talk to one of the callers she threatened dire consequences. Angry, I
challenged her to do her best and flatly told her that I felt the whole Patiala
Court & Lawyers/Police story was concocted and that that she was in all probability
calling from some remote, far-off call-centre. The fact that she was quiet for
a moment confirmed my doubt.
The calls started again shortly thereafter but not at our
outlet. They finally stopped after Ram reached a compromise with them to close the
matter after paying INR 18,000.
