Mumbai woman commits suicide; PMC Bank crisis claims three lives

A resident of Andheri in Mumbai has taken her own life at her residence on Tuesday by overdosing on pills. She was a Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank (PMC) account holder and she is the third victim that the PMC Bank scam has claimed in 24 hours. The Mumbai Police has stated that the victim Yogita Bijlani was suffering from schizophrenia. 

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Bijlani held more than Rs. 1 crore in her PMC account

The police further stated that the bank scam may not have been the direct cause of her death but they will not rule it out entirely and will probe all angles. It is being reported that Bijlani held more than Rs. 1 crore in her account at the Versova branch of the PMC Bank. Police further added that she was under medication for schizophrenia and had attempted suicide on a couple of occasions in the past. On Tuesday afternoon, she overdosed on pills. Her family said that she was under stress for the past few days. Her father's statement was recorded by the Versova Police. A case of accidental death has been recorded.

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PMC crisis had already claimed two lives

In a previous incident, on Monday, 51-year-old Sanjay Gulati, reportedly a customer of the bank currently facing severe backlash from the looming crisis passed away on Monday, October 14, reports say. It was reported that Sanjay Gulati suffered a cardiac arrest after he lost his life savings to the scam. Notably, earlier Sanjay had lost his job at Jet Airways. Sanjay had attended a protest morcha against the PMC bank on Monday. After coming home, he suffered massive heart failure due to stress while he was having food, as per reports. Sanjay was under a lot of stress as first he had lost his job in the Jet Airways and now his life savings were stuck in the PMC Bank. Another PMC Bank customer Fattomal Punjabi also died due to heart attack. Punjabi's family alleged that he was under stress following the crisis in PMC Bank.

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FIR registered 

The police registered an FIR against the top officials of the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) bank and the promoters of the HDIL, Rakesh Wadhwan, and Sarang. The bank allegedly continued giving loans to the debt-ridden HDIL from 2008 to 2019 despite the previous loans the firm defaulting on earlier loans. This resulted in a loss of nearly Rs 4,355 crore. Several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) such as criminal breach of trust, cheating, and forgery have been invoked against the accused. Besides the promoters of HDIL, the former Managing Director Joy Thomas and ex-Chairman Waryam Singh were arrested and sent to police custody. Out of 44 accounts, a total of 10 were linked to HDIL including the personal bank accounts of the accused.

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