NEW DELHI: A 51-year-old city resident whose deposit of over Rs 90 lakh was stuck with the scam-hit Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank died of a heart attack, hours after taking part in a protest by bank customers who are seeking their money back.
Sanjay Gulati, the deceased, had lost his job at Jet Airways when the airline was grounded in April, his famly said. He also had a specially-abled child to support.
Gulati and his 80-year-old father C L Gulati participated in the depositors’ protest in south Mumbai on Monday morning. Later, while having a late lunch at his house in suburban Oshiwara, Sanjay collapsed, his family said.
He was rushed to a hospital where he was declared brought dead. The cause of death was given as cardiac arrest.
“He had lost his job recently and was extremely stressed for the last few days after the bank crisis. He feared we will not get any of our money back,” wife Bindu Gulati told reporters on Tuesday.
The family was struggling to pay tuition fees for their specially-abled son who needs special education and special medical attention, entailing high expenditure, she said.
Sanjay’s father said they had a deposit of over Rs 90 lakh with Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative Bank, and also a recurring deposit account for the children.
Following the discovery of an over Rs 4,000 crore scam at the bank, which has deposits of over Rs 11,000 crore, the Reserve Bank of India last month appointed an administrator over it, and capped withdrawals at Rs 1,000.
On Monday evening — the same day Gulati died — the withdrawal cap was hiked to Rs 40,000, with the RBI saying that it will give relief to 77 per cent of depositors.
Real estate firm HDIL allegedly accounted for 70 per cent of the bank’s Rs 9,000 crore advances. According to the Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing, HDIL’s loans turned Non-Performing Assets, but the bank management shielded this huge exposure from the RBI’s scrutiny.
The EOW has arrested four persons including HDIL promoters and former top officials of the bank.
Depositors confronted Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during her visit here last week, seeking assurance that their money was safe.
Manali Narkar, one of the agitating depositors, said Gulati participated in the protest and went home a dejected man.
“What else we can do? We have nowhere to go to get our hard-earned money back, nor do we have any concrete assurances,” she said.
The depositors have planned a candlelight march on Tuesday evening in Gulati’s memory.
Source: Press Trust of India
