MUMBAI: Tragedy struck again at Mulund on Friday when Muralidhar Dhara (83), a bank account holder with the scam-hit Punjab and Maharashtra (PMC) Bank died of a heart attack.
He turns out to be the fourth customer of the bank who has died after the RBI put restrictions on withdrawal of money for PMC bank depositors.
Dhara died at his home for want of urgent heart surgery, his son Prem said. His family attributed the death to their inability to arrange for funds to pay for critical heart surgery.
Dhara had as much as Rs 80 lakh in deposits with the PMC Bank but could not withdraw the money due to the RBI curbs, family members said.
Under the RBI directions, exceptions can be made for medical emergencies, but it is not known immediately whether the bank refused a request from the family. The RBI had initially put a cap of Rs 1,000 on the deposit withdrawals and upped it to Rs 40,000 in three moves.
This is the fourth incidence of death of depositors of PMC Bank which has been under RBI curbs. Earlier, two people died of cardiac arrests, and a doctor committed suicide.
Hapless PMC depositors have been protesting to get their money back ever since the bank was placed under restrictions.
On Tuesday 39-year-old doctor from Versova Dr Nivedita Bijlani had committed suicide, while furniture dealer Fattomal Punjabi (59) from Mulund had died of a heart attack on the same day as he was about to leave to go to the bank.
Sanjay Gulati (51) of Oshiwara died a day earlier of a heart attack just hours after he participated in the depositors’ protest in south Mumbai on Monday morning.
Gulati had lost his job with Jet Airways after the airline was grounded in April following the 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, their family members said.