The crisis in the Punjab & Maharashtra Co-operative Bank (PMC) has started to take a human toll as Sanjay Gulati, a 51-year-old account holder in the beleaguered bank, died of a stroke just hours after attending a protest march.

Gulati had deposited his life's savings, amounting to Rs 80 lakh, in the cooperative bank and with the withdrawal limits imposed on the bank's account holders, it would have taken years for him to pull out the entire amount.

Gulati was earlier employed with Jet Airways, the private carrier which ceased operations earlier this year after failing to clear its dues. He was providing for a special child.

Also Read: Another PMC Bank account holder dies of heart attack in Mumbai, second death in 24 hours

"He has a special child ... he was depressed ... many times he said it was very difficult to run home," new agency ANI quoted one of Gulati's relatives as saying. "Earlier he was working in Jet Airways … after losing his job, he was completely dependent on his savings ."

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Mumbai-based PMC Bank received a notice by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on September 24, stating the bank had been put under regulatory restrictions for a period of six months following irregularities in its functioning. It has since come to light that the bank was saddled with non-performing assets (NPAs) and its exposure to HDIL, a real estate development company, was way above the RBI guidelines.

Following its notice, RBI imposed a withdrawal limit of Rs 1,000 per month on the PMC Bank account holders, causing an uproar among them. The limit was subsequently increased to Rs 10,000 and later Rs 25,000 before it was upped again on Monday to Rs 40,000.

However, the increased limits failed to assuage the bank's account holders with significantly larger deposits than the withdrawal limit, forcing them to take the protest route.

First Published:Oct 15, 2019 10:08 AM IST