Why was Mumbai's Gateway of India shore awash with Rs 1,000 notes?

On a day the Rupee fell to a two year low, Mumbai's shore at the Gateway of India was reportedly awash with Rs 1,000 denomination notes. Several people were seen making daredevil attempts to retrieve the notes. 

Harichandra Somar, a Colaba resident told a Mumbai tabloid that after he came to know about the currency notes floating in water, he too rushed to the spot. "Since it was low tide, I immediately climbed down and picked up two Rs 1,000 notes. I then made two more rounds and collected three more Rs 1,000 notes," he said. Somar said that he collected Rs 5,000 but did not return to fetch more as the tides had begun rising.

Many others who heard about the floating notes too came to the spot, but were detained by the police. However, it is yet to be ascertained how the notes got into the sea. 

Santosh Pawar, a hawker from Colaba who managed to get Rs 1,000 before being caught by the cops, said that a foreigner threw a bundle of notes and challenged people walking by to get it for themselves. Others said that the money was thrown by a wealthy person who was cornered by thugs at the Gateway. 

A Colaba police officer said, "We detained three people who said they collected Rs 1,000 each from the water. We released them after recording their statements."