Rishi Kapoor compares PMC crisis to father's 'Shree 420', urges government to punish cheats

NEW DELHI: With each passing day, the situation of crisis-hit Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank is taking a severe turn.

After the fifth case of bank account holder in Mumbai's suburban Mulund on Saturday came to the fore, actor Rishi Kapoor expressed his concerns on Twitter. In a post, the 67-year-old actor, who returned to India last month after nearly a year-long treatment in New York, drew comparisons to his father Raj Kapoor's 1955 film 'Shree 420'.

He stressed that the cheats should be punished and the honest people should be treated the right way.



Last week, 'The Sky Is Pink' actor Farhan Akhtar also expressed concerns on the crisis-hit bank, and the 'hardworking' people suffering because of it. Complaining about the country's 'twisted law', he said that the 'culprits deserve to rot in jail'.

On September 26, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) put restrictions on PMC after its Rs 4,355 crore-scam came to the fore. India's central bank capped its deposit withdrawals at Rs 40,000 over a six-month period, causing panic and distress among depositors. The bank used more than 21,000 fictitious accounts to hide loans it made, according to a police complaint lodged by officials.

Earlier on Friday, the Supreme Court refused to entertain a plea filed on behalf of the scam-hit bank's account holders seeking lifting of restrictions imposed by the RBI on cash withdrawals. The same day, an 83-year-old PMC bank depositor Murlidhar Dharra, also from Mulund, died with his family claiming that it could not raise money for his heart surgery after restrictions were imposed on fund withdrawals.

Earlier, two depositors died of cardiac arrest, while another, a woman doctor, allegedly committed suicide.