Published 06:27 IST, October 15th 2019
PMC Bank Scam: Man suffers cardiac arrest after losing life savings
The Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank scam has claimed its first victim on Monday. The 51-year-old Sanjay Gulati was robbed of his life savings amid scam
PMC Bank Scam: 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.
'Govt on its toes'
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman who assured action in the PMC bank fraud case spoke to the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Shaktikanta Das, on Monday. The depositors have been demanding their money to be returned by the bank and are also demanding that no bail should be given to the accused Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) promoters, Sarang and Rakesh Wadhawan.
Nirmala Sitharaman stated that she is keeping up a rigorous follow up on the case. She further assured the customers that the government is vigilant and is making sure that the promotors get their savings. "Government is on its toes bringing assets of the promoters and making sure that the process does not suffer to get the assets which will help in paying the customers."
Withdrawal up to 40,000
Earlier the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday, increased the withdrawal limit for the bank customers to Rs 40,000 which is inclusive of the Rs 25,000 allowed earlier. In an official statement issued, the RBI said after reviewing the bank's liquidity position, it had decided to enhance the withdrawal limit. Amidst protests earlier, on October 3, the RBI had allowed the depositors to withdraw up to Rs 25,000.
PMC Bank fraud
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.
Updated 08:29 IST, October 15th 2019