MUMBAI/KERALA: The scramble by millions of panicked consumers to exchange banned currency or deposit them turned tragic today when two people died in separate incidents in Maharashtra and Kerala amid chaos and confusion for the second straight day with poor cash flow.
As banks across the country struggled to contain serpentine queues since early morning, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi took people by surprise when he visited SBI’s Parliament Street branch in Delhi to exchange banned notes with new ones, in a show of solidarity with increasingly impatient people.
There were no signs of immediate relief even as several cash-strapped people were told to go back after bank servers at several branches reportedly collapsed while several ATMs went dry in a few hours. People who were able to exchange the old currency could get hold of the new notes only after waiting for several hours.
Vishwanath Vartak, 73, who was standing in the queue before an SBI branch for exchanging currency, collapsed and died on the spot at Navghar in Mulund in eastern suburbs, police said.
Vartak had been standing for hours in the queue to exchange Rs.1000 and Rs.500 denomination notes. Though he was rushed to hospital by some people who saw him collapse, he was declared dead before admission, police said.
In another incident, a 48-year old man, who came to deposit Rs five lakh worth scrapped high denomination notes in a bank in Thalassery in Kerala, died after he fell down from the second floor of a building. (AGENCIES)
Follow our WhatsApp channel