Deaths in cash queues

PTI & TT, Nov. 19: A 75-year-old man collapsed and died in Pilani, Rajasthan, today after standing in line and getting old notes worth Rs 2,000 exchanged.

Ratnaram Meghwal came out of the State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, vomited and collapsed, police said. He was declared dead on arrival in hospital in the town that is famous for the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS).

Another 75-year-old, Kamta Prasad, took ill while standing in the queue outside a Bank of India branch in Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh, and died on the spot. Prasad had been unwell but had gone to the bank to get cash along with family members, police said.

Two deaths were reported from Aligarh, also in Uttar Pradesh. Babu Lal, 50, whose daughter is scheduled to get married on November 26, suffered a heart attack and died after returning home from a bank yesterday. He had failed to withdraw cash for the wedding despite approaching different banks over three days, family sources said.

Mohammed Idrees, 45, died after a heart attack yesterday while he was on his way to a bank to exchange old notes, his family said. Idrees did not have a bank account but had been doing the rounds of a local bank over the past four days, the family said.

The Left parties lashed out at Narendra Modi, questioning his silence on the deaths that have been linked to demonetisation. "Why has he not spoken on 55 deaths that have occurred due to  Demonetisation?" CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury tweeted.