MUTUKRISHNAN menunjukkan ibu jari tangan kanan yang didakwa dikerat ah long di Selayang, Selangor semalam. Pix: KosmoKUALA LUMPUR: Had mutton seller A. Muthukrishnan known that a loan he took from a licensed moneylender four years ago would cost him a thumb, a ear, his job and even his house, he would have chosen to rough it through his financial hardship and be a happier man today.

Crippled and having to rely on his wife for simple daily tasks such as using the toilet, the 44-year-old father of three is in a quandary after being evicted from his Selayang house last week.

"I borrowed RM50,000, but lost my house which I bought for RM200,000 in 1997 and is currently valued at RM500,000," he told theSun.

Muthukrishnan, who operated a mutton stall in Selayang, took a RM50,000 loan from a licensed moneylender in October 2008. He said the moneylender agreed to give him the loan on the condition a caveat be placed on his house as collateral.

He agreed and signed several documents, a few which he claimed were blank papers given to him by the moneylender.

"Little did I know that the documents and blank papers I had signed would be turned into a letter of authorisation meant for the sale of my house which was under a loan with a bank," he said.

While continuing to pay his housing loan, he said he made regular instalment repayments to the moneylender. However, about 15 months later, he received a letter from the bank informing him that his house had been sold to the moneylender based on a letter of authorisation.

Then on April 23 last year, he was accosted by four men on his way to work at about 3am.

"They slashed me. They grabbed my right hand, sawed off my thumb and then held my head and cut off my ear and told me they needed to show it as proof to their boss that they had done their job."

- theSun