Date:07/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/07/stories/2008080757150500.htm

National

More fake currency tumbles out of bank

Atiq Khan

Rs. 46.24 lakh found in the currency chest of the State Bank of India’s Domariaganj branch

U.P. Government likely to seek CBI probe
Total amount of counterfeit notes reaches 66 lakh

LUCKNOW: With more fake currency with a face value of Rs.46.24 lakh found in the currency chest of the State Bank of India’s Domariaganj branch in Siddharthnagar district of Uttar Pradesh, a CBI inquiry is likely to be recommended by the State Government in the counterfeit money racket.

An indication to this effect was given by Uttar Pradesh Home Secretary Mahesh Gupta on Wednesday. To begin with, Mr. Gupta said, the Government had decided to refer the case pertaining to the seizure of Rs.12.66 lakh fake currency at Aligarh in December 2007 to the CBI. Since the Government’s recommendation to the Central investigating agency is taken on a case-by-case basis, the possibility of a CBI probe into the latest and the biggest recovery of fake currency was not ruled out by Mr. Gupta.

Until Tuesday the Uttar Pradesh Government had given no indication of an inquiry by the CBI. But the recovery of another Rs.46.24 lakh counterfeit money from the same SBI branch apparently led the Government to hasten the process.

Following the recovery of Rs.46.24 lakh worth of fake currency on Tuesday, the total amount of counterfeit money recovered from the Domariaganj branch has gone up to Rs.66.24 lakh.

Additional Director-General of Police (Law and Order and STF) Brij Lal told reporters that the Rs.46.24 lakh in fake currency was recovered by the team of Reserve Bank of India officials while screening Rs.1 crore kept in the currency chest. Mr. Lal clarified that the fake currency detected on Tuesday belonged to a separate chest. He said the RBI team was screening more currency notes and further information is awaited.

Considering that a whopping amount of Rs.183 crore kept in the currency chest of the SBI branch has to be screened by the RBI officials, the UP Police have refused to set a time frame. The process might stretch for over a month, or more, officials said. The possibility of the current recovery eventually turning out to be the biggest recovery of fake money from a nationalised bank after the screening process is over is not ruled out by the UP Special Task Force.

Machines installed

In a related development, a BPS-200 machine was installed in the SBI branch for detecting the fake notes. The decision was taken following the visit of Chief General Manager, UP Circle of SBI, Shiv Kumar, to Domariaganj on Tuesday.

By all indications, the recovery of fake currency so far is only the tip of the iceberg. According to informed sources, counterfeit money has also been detected in the money withdrawn from the other nationalized banks in Siddharthnagar, which is about 20 km from the Nepal border. In a recent case, an influential person of the area found to his horror that in the Rs.1.50 lakh withdrawn from a nationalised bank, 17 notes of Rs.1,000 denomination were fake.