Shock and anger spread through Damurhuda’s Chitla village when a grieving family was forced to pay alleged interest money before burying their dead relative.

Local sources said mason Harun died recently, but his neighbor, Marzina Khatun, blocked the funeral rites, demanding BDT 15,000 she claimed as outstanding interest. The family, desperate and humiliated, paid after a tense standoff lasting an hour.

Marzina later fled the village amid public outrage. Relatives alleged Harun had borrowed BDT 8,000 but was coerced into paying nearly three times that amount in interest.