A 33-year-old State Bank of India employee in Gujarat committed suicide on Sunday, PTI reported. Police officer said Prem Shankar Prajapati, a cashier with the bank’s branch in Tharad, hanged himself from a ceiling fan at his home in the town. Prajapati’s wife, Manjula, claimed that “heavy work pressure” pushed him to kill himself.
“My husband used to remain tense after coming home from the bank,” Manjula said. “He once said that there is so much work pressure. He did not talk much because of the tension,” she told reporters. However, police officers refused to assign a motive to Prajapati’s death. Tharad Police inspector JG Chavda said the cashier had killed himself because of “some unknown reasons”.
“We have not found any suicide note from the spot,” Chavda said. Prajapati’s suicide comes as banks and bank staff continue to grapple with a cash crunch caused by the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Earlier this month, bank employees in the country proposed that the Reserve Bank of India suspend banking operations until it can supply branches with adequate currency notes. Some banking unions said the demonetisation exercise was taking a toll on employees’ “physical and mental health”.
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