Bengaluru Woman Stripped, Assaulted, Filmed Over Loan Repayment. 4 Arrested

A domestic worker from Bengaluru, identified as Fathima, had taken two separate loans – Rs 50,000 from Nazath Begum and Rs 1 lakh from Reshma Banu – and was repaying them in weekly instalments. According to the victim, she fell behind on the payments and stopped paying interest about six months ago, prompting repeated demands for the pending amounts. After blocking Reshma’s phone numbers, she moved to her mother’s house for a period of nearly two months.

On 27 August, Nazath called Fathima and asked her to come to her residence in Metro Layout for work, promising payment. Fathima arrived at the house around 5.30 pm with her young son. While she was feeding her child, Nazath stepped outside to speak with someone, after which Reshma, her husband Suhail and two other individuals entered the house, locked the door and confined the pair.

During the confinement, Suhail allegedly demanded a total of Rs 11 lakh, including interest, and struck Fathima’s hand with a knife. The victim says she was forced to strip, assaulted and filmed while naked. The perpetrators threatened to release the video publicly if she failed to repay the money. Her son was also subjected to assault, prompting him to cry.

Fathima’s mother filed a missing‑person complaint at Chandralayout Police Station after the woman could not be located. Police traced her whereabouts, rescued her from the house and took her to the station for questioning. The investigation led to the arrest of three individuals – Reshma Banu, Nazath Begum and Suhail – who were charged in connection with the kidnapping, assault and extortion.

One report indicates that four people were arrested, adding two unnamed accomplices to the three named suspects, while other accounts list only the three individuals mentioned above. The discrepancy reflects differing statements from law‑enforcement briefings.

The case highlights concerns over informal loan practices and the extreme measures taken by lenders to recover debts, prompting local authorities to investigate further and advise borrowers to seek legal recourse for loan disputes.