A 39-year-old farmer, who was on hunger strike for a crop loan, died on Thursday in Parbhani district, police said. Tukaram Vaijanath Kale, a resident of Mardajgaon in Pathri tehsil, was on a hunger strike in front of the State Bank of India's Pathri branch alongwith other farmers from Wednesday. Their demand was that the bank should grant them crop loans speedily, said inspector Vidyasagar Shrimanvar of Pathri police station.

Kale's condition deteriorated Thursday afternoon and he was shifted to a government hospital at Manvat where he died during treatment, the police official said. As the news of his death came, there was a commotion at the venue of the hunger strike at Pathri, he said.