ISI stole features of currency notes, not template: CBI

Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) may have stolen some security features of Indian currency notes of Rs500 and Rs1,000 denomination, but not the complete template, says the CBI.

Three days ago, the agency’s director Ashwini Kumar had said investigations had revealed that the 2005 “secret security template” had been compromised. But the CBI retracted the statement on Friday and claimed only some secret features of the 2005 design of the Indian currency, especially of Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes, may have reached ISI.

A team comprising representatives of the CBI, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Reserve Bank of India and the Central Forensic Science Laboratory has been constituted to investigate the matter.

The investigators believe ISI is involved in large-scale production and circulation of fake Indian currency as part of an effort to destabilise our economy.

A CBI spokesman said, “The agencies that are behind destabilising the country now have the knowledge of the kind of paper and ink used in printing Indian currency notes, but not the secret template.”

The ink and paper are imported from foreign countries, which, according to the CBI and other intelligence agencies, is “a matter of concern”. Fake currency notes with a face value of Rs1,69,000 crore are in circulation in the Indian economy.