PMC Bank: Depositors protest outside RBI, two senior citizens faint
Mumbai/IBNS: The Panjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank depositors on Saturday held a protest demonstration seeking written assurance from RBI that their money will be returned, media reports said.
The protesters held banners and chanted slogans “Save PMC, Save Us”.
Two senior citizens at the agitation fainted when the police began to detain the protesters.
The man and the woman were rushed to a neighbouring hospital by the fellow protesters in the same vehicle in which the other protesters were kept.
Heavy security has been deployed outside the RBI premises in Mumbai in view of the protests.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Friday rejected a petition filed by the PMC depositors seeking a direction to RBI to remove the restriction on withdrawal of money.
The bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice SA Bobde and Justice S Abdul Nazeer directed the petitioners to approach the concerned high court to get relief.
The plea was made on behalf of 15 lakh PMC bank customers who are unable to withdraw their money from the crisis-hit bank.
Currently, the depositors can withdraw Rs 40,000 for six months from their accounts in the bank, causing trouble for scores of depositors who had parked their entire saving in the bank.
This week, at least three PMC bank depositors died within 24 hours with one of them committing suicide, media reports had said.
The first two people have reportedly died of cardiac arrest due to "severe stress".
The third person, who was a doctor, has committed suicide due to "depression".
Sanjay Gulati, 51, was the first person to die.
Gulati, who had a deposit of Rs. 90 lakh in the PMC, died on Monday hours after participating at a protest organised by the distressed customers of the bank.
The protest was organised outside a Mumbai court.
The PMC Bank faced the crisis after real estate firm HDIL defaulted on loans worth Rs. 4,355 crore from the bank.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, also a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate for the upcoming Maharashtra polls, said he will take up the PMC crisis with the central government.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the Centre should utilise the Prime Minister's Relief Fund to rescue the depositors of trouble-torn PMC Bank.
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