Distressed over losing his entire savings of Rs 30 lakh in the Punjab & Maharashtra Co-operative Bank scam, 79-year-old Bharat Mankermi, who had recently suffered a stroke, succumbed on Friday.

"From the time the doctors diagnosed the slurred speech and loss of balance as signals of stroke, my father-in-law had been in and out of the hospital. We spent almost Rs 18 lakh on his treatment, but he could not get over the trauma of the financial loss and his full recovery was an uphill task," said Nilesh Asher. Asher, 54, added that the family accepts the fact that at 79, Mankermi was not as hale as a youngster, but they also firmly believe that at his age, the trauma was too great for him to bear.