Spooked by income tax action, bankers rush to shrinks

DEHRADUN: A few days ago, a banker in Dehradun landed in the hospital after consuming all the medicines in his house. In another part of the city, anxiety and stress nearly broke a financier's marriage after arguments with her husband became commonplace. Both bankers are now undergoing counselling at psychiatric clinics.The underlying cause of their uneasiness is the same -fear of coming under the scanner of the income tax department for laundering cash.

Many top doctors in the city told TOI that earlier the scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes had sent several anxiety-ridden businessmen and politicians knocking at their doors but it is now the bankers who are coming in to seek counselling.

The reasons range from stress caused by long working hours and irate customers to fear of getting trapped by I-T sleuths for indulging in “illicit activities“ in the wake of demonetisation. Under pressure from all directions, bank staff are reporting an increasing number of stress-related disorders, including breakdowns and heart attacks.

Also Read: Bench to decide validity of demonetisation

A leading psychiatrist in the city on condition of anonymity told TOI, “A few days ago, a woman employed with a private bank visited me. She was experiencing anxiety attacks and had frequent quarrels with her husband. Turns out, she had taken a commission to let black money hoarders deposit old currency in her bank account. But later she was afraid that she would not be able to establish a source of income if her bank account came under the I-T scanner.“

Another psychiatrist who practises at Rajpur Road said, “I had a patient who consumed all the medicines in his house during a panic attack. During the sessions, he revealed that he had taken cash from some people to create fake accounts to convert black money to white.“