A 73-year-old man collapsed and died in a queue before a bank as cash-strapped people in the country’s financial capital and suburbs rushed to the ATM counters on Friday to withdraw money.
Vishwanath Vartak, who was standing in the queue before an SBI branch for exchanging currency, collapsed and died on the spot at Navghar in Mulund in the city’s eastern suburbs, police said.
Mr. Vartak had been standing for hours in the queue to exchange Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 5,00 notes. Though he was rushed to hospital by some people who saw him collapse, he was declared dead before admission, police said.
Running out of money for the last two days, men and women had thronged the ATMs since early morning while in many places, to their disappointment, they found the machines not working.
ATMs of various banks in south Mumbai, Lalbaugh, Parel, Dadar, Andheri, Ghatkopar and Mulund were found to be out of service or not dispensing money, forcing people to return empty-handed.
