Lent to a friend, he is now absconding and not paying back
Hi,
I'm currently based in Chennai, and I lent ~5,75,000rs to a friend in Bangalore over multiple transactions in the last 3-4 years as he claimed to be facing multiple family crises. I'm maintaining an email chain with an audit of his initial request, all transactions and total amount he owes me. All the monies were bank transferred. I also have a couple of chat/SMSes which I believe might be relevant. I also have one call recording where he clearly admits of not paying back along with a bunch of excuses and a statement that he will pay back but he 'needs time'. I can now clearly see this is going nowhere and started asking for money strongly, and he has now disappeared, not picking my calls or anything.
All I have is his phone number (which he might have changed already). I do not have his physical address.
Its my hard earned money I've saved from my salary for my sister's wedding, and now I've had to manage the wedding taking other debts from relatives as this ingrate has pretty much run away with my money.
Do I have any probability of getting my money back? How should I initiate legal action?
Kindly advise.