Three PMC Bank depositors succumb to stress-related deaths

In less than three days, at least three account holders of Punjab and Maharashtra Bank Cooperative (PMC) have died due to stress-related conditions. While two of them succumbed to heart attack and cardiac arrest induced by severe stress, as told by their family members, another depositor who was suffering from depression committed allegedly committed suicide.

A 51-year-old man whose family has a deposit of over ₹90 lakh with the troubled Punjab and Maharashtra Bank Cooperative (PMC) Bank, died due to a heart attack on Monday (October 14), sources said on Tuesday.

Sanjay Gulati, a resident of suburban Oshiwara, went to a protest march held outside a Mumbai court on Monday morning. He had been under tremendous stress due to his deposit being stuck in the bank.

Manali Narkar, one of the agitating depositors said that Gulati was there at the protest along with his 80-year-old father. In a video made at the protest site, Gulati’s father claimed that the family has a deposit of over ₹90 lakh with the bank.

Gulati died due to a heart attack while having dinner on Monday (October 14), a senior official at Oshiwara police station said.A few of the depositors will be attending Gulati’s last rites to be held here and a peaceful candle light march will be held in the evening.

Gulati lost his job after the grounding of Jet Airways and is survived by a specially-abled son, who requires regular medical treatment.

In less than 24 hours another distressed PMC Bank depositor, 59-year-old Fattomal Punjabi died due to cardiac arrest on Tuesday (October 15) at 12:30 pm.

On Sunday (October 13), another account holder of the bank, Dr Yogita Bijlani, died after taking an overdose of sleeping pills. Police said Bijlani who had recently moved to Mumbai from the US was suffering from depression. Although police did not find a suicide note or any evidence on her person to prove it as a suicide, her family said she had tried to take her life in Columbia a few years back.

The PMC Bank has been placed under ‘directions’ by the RBI since last month, wherein depositors’ withdrawals have been capped.

The limit was increased to ₹40,000 by the RBI on Monday, following which the central bank said 77 per cent of the customers will be able to withdraw their deposits fully with this move. The limits were earlier capped at ₹1,000 and subsequently raised to ₹10,000 and ₹25,000 as the bank’s liquidity position improved.

Harried depositors of the bank, which possess deposits of over ₹11,000 crore have been protesting across the city. This forced Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to meet
them last week when she went to address a pre-election media conference in the city.

Sitharaman then urged RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das to urgently look into the woes of the depositors following which the deposit withdrawal limits were hiked to ₹40,000.