Mumbai: A depositor of scam-hit Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank allegedly committed suicide here, while another died of a heart attack a few hours after taking part in a protest by bank customers seeking their money back.
Dr Nivedita Bijlani (39), who allegedly ended life Monday evening, and Sanjay Gulati (51) who died of a heart attack on the same day, had deposits of over Rs 90 lakh each with the PMC Bank.
The bank has been put under restrictions by the RBI following the discovery of the Rs 4,355 crore scam. Deposit withdrawals have been capped at Rs 40,000 over a six-month period, causing panic and distress among depositors.
Nivedita Bijlani, a post-graduate in medicine, allegedly ended her life by taking overdose of sleeping pills at her residence in suburban Versova late Monday evening. Police said she had deposits of over Rs one crore with the bank.
However, the police also said that Bijlani, who had remarried recently, suffered from chronic depression, and had also tried to end her life earlier when she was in the US. No suicide note has been found, and further investigations are on, officials said.
Sanjay Gulati had lost his job with Jet Airways after the airline was grounded in April following bankruptcy. He has a specially-abled son whose treatment requires over Rs 25,000 a month, and they were struggling to pay his tuition fees, family members said.
Accompanied by his 80-year-old father, Sanjay participated in the depositors’ protest in Monday morning. Later, while having a late lunch at his house in suburban Oshiwara, he collapsed, his family informed. Sanjay was rushed to a nearby hospital which declared him dead.
“He had lost his job 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.
Sanjay’s father said they had a deposit of over Rs 90 lakh with the bank. “Many retired people have their accounts there, many are struggling. How do you run the house? People have deposits ranging from Rs 10 lakh to rupees two crore stuck at PMC Bank. One of my friends was to undergo operation, but he now has no clue when to have it,” a senior citizen participating in a candlelight march outside Gulati’s home said Tuesday evening.
Meanwhile, ruling Shiv Sena MPs Rahul Shewale, Gajanan Kirtikar, Arvind Sawant and Anil Desai called on RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, and requested the RBI to merge PMC Bank with a state-run lender like Bank of Baroda or Punjab National Bank, or with a private sector one like ICICI Bank or HDFC Bank.
PTI
