Reserve Bank of India finds Rs.30 mn fake currency in State Bank currency chest

[dr.umer]

Reserve Bank of India finds Rs.30 mn fake currency in State Bank currency chest

LUCKNOW: A Reserve Bank of India (RBI) team has completed the scan of a currency chest at the Domariyaganj branch of the State Bank of India (SBI) and found fake currency with a nominal value of Rs.30 million, bank officials said Monday.

The RBI team had been scanning the currency notes in the chest since Aug 1 following the arrest of its cashier, Sudhakar Tripathi. The chest contained Rs.1.84 billion.

Money from the branch used to be supplied to smaller branches of nationalised banks in and around Domariyaganj, a small town in Uttar Pradesh's Siddharthnagar district, close to the India-Nepal border.

Tripathi was arrested July 29 and during interrogation confessed to exchanging fake currency notes with a nominal value of Rs.15 million with original ones from the bank's currency chest, the officials alleged.

The scam came to light when the Special Task Force (STF) of the state police arrested four people with fake currency notes in the town.

The case was soon transferred to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on whose request the hearing was shifted to the court of the special judge here who handles anti corruption cases.

The officials of the RBI team refused to talk to the media in Domariyaganj Sunday and said their report will be submitted to the RBI headquarters in Mumbai.

"It is up to them (headquarters) to reveal our findings," an official stated.

Meanwhile, the SIT claims to have gathered vital information about the scam after the interrogation of Tripathi and co-accused Abid Shekh.

"We hope to make more arrests but currently we are not in a position to divulge any details," superintendent of police, SIT, A.K. Mishra said.

The case was recommended for transfer to the Central Bureau of Investigation some time ago and according to government sources, the CBI is keen to probe it.