PMC Bank depositors protest outside chief minister’s home, detained

Nearly a dozen depositors of Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank were detained by the police on Friday after they marched in protest towards chief minister

Nearly a dozen depositors of Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank were detained by the police on Friday after they marched in protest towards chief minister (CM) Devendra Fadnavis’s residence.

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The depositors, mostly women, had planned to meet the CM to remind him of his promise of solving the bank’s crisis after the Assembly election. However, before they reached the bungalow, the police allegedly forced the protestors into a police van. Depositors shouted slogans against the Reserve Bank of India, which imposed restrictions on the bank’s functioning in Septmber, and the government.

“The CM has forgotten his promise and made our Diwali a Black Diwali,” said Jitsu Seth, a 40-year-old depositor who was detained on Friday. “We had gone to meet the CM, but were stopped by the police 200 meters away from Varsha [the CM’s residence]. We were peacefully protesting on the street, but the police detained us and took us to the Azad Maidan police station and released us only after an hour,” said Seth, a Vasai resident.

Zonal deputy commissioner of police Rajiv Jain did not respond when contacted.