Mumbai: 51-year-old PMC depositor dies after participating in protest rally

A 51-year-old former employee of Jet Airways, who had deposits worth Rs 90 lakhs in the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank, died hours after participating in a protest rally by depositors here on Monday.

The deceased identified as Sanjay Gulati had deposits in the Oshiwara branch of the Bank and is survived by his wife and two children.

He was a resident of Tarapore Gardens, Oshiwara.

PMC Bank depositors on Monday held a protest, outside the city's Esplanade Court, demanding reimbursement of their money from the bank.

The Reserve Bank of India on Monday raised the withdrawal limit for depositors of PMC Bank to Rs 40,000 from the earlier limit of Rs 25,000, the third such raise in the last month. On October 3, the RBI had permitted the depositors of the bank to withdraw up to Rs 25,000 of the total balance in their accounts.

"He was an engineer in Jet Airways but lost his job some four to five months ago. He deposited over Rs 80 Lakh in PMC bank and was hopeful that he would do something with it. He was very much depressed after returning from the protest rally," said Rajesh Dua, a relative.

"It was hard for him to run his family and even bear the cost of the treatment of his child. He was not suffering from any disease nor have any health-related problem," said Dua.

Another relative Suresh Salvi said that he was very upset about his money struck at the PMC bank.

"He was my neighbour and the family was very good. I came to know that after returning from a rally he was unwell. He died," said Suresh Salvi, Gulati's neighbour.

A PMC depositors collective group expressed grief over his death.

"With profound grief and sorrow, we regret to inform the sudden demise of Sanjay Gulati who left for the heavenly abode on 14th October 2019. The cremation shall take place at Oshiwara crematorium at 11.30 am on 15th October," said the statement by PMC depositors collective group.

Last month, the RBI restricted the activities of the PMC Bank for six months and asked it to not grant or renew any loans and advances, make any investment or incur any liability, including borrowing of funds and acceptance of fresh deposits.

PMC Bank is a multi-state scheduled urban cooperative bank with operations in Maharashtra, New Delhi, Karnataka, Goa, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh. With a network of 137 branches, it ranks among the top 10 cooperative banks in the country.