A 26-year-old farmer in Ariyalur committed suicide due to harassments from a private financial institution because he couldn’t repay, on time, the loan borrowed by him to buy a tractor.

The incident comes within days of a farmer getting brutally beaten up in Thanjavur by the cops and employees of a private bank over his non-repayment of loans.

26-year-old Azhagar committed suicide by drinking pesticide after his tractor was seized by the recovery agents of a private finance company. He had borrowed Rs.7 lakhs for buying the tractor. He had repaid Rs.5 lakhs, and was having trouble with the remaining Rs.2 lakhs.

Political parties were quick to condemn the harassment. MDMK general secretary Vaiko demanded the immediate arrest of the persons who had harassed the farmer, and a compensation of Rs.25 lakhs from the company to the farmer’s family.

Demands were also made to write off all the farmer debts in order to put an end to these suicides.