ISI hand feared in fake notes at UP SBI branch

LUCKNOW: The UP Police’s special task force has recovered counterfeit notes from the currency chest of State Bank of India’s (SBI’s) Domariaganj branch on the Indo-Nepal border. The notes were recovered during a surprise check by RBI. Cops believe this could be part of the ISI’s design to ruin India’s economy through large-scale use of fake currency. 

Twenty wads of fake currency notes with a face value of Rs20 lakh were recovered. “It’s the first time such a big number of fake notes of Rs1,000 denomination has been recovered,” additional DG (crime, law and order) Brij Lal told DNA.

The notes were of good quality. So, it was difficult to differentiate. “These have been printed in a government press, probably in Pakistan,” said a senior police officer.  Sudhakar Tripathi, the bank’s cashier, has been arrested for abetting the racket. Of the Rs7.21 lakh recovered from his house, Rs5 lakh was counterfeit. Tripathi mixed the fake notes with genuine ones, said Lal. But the scam remained hidden because physical verifications of currency chests are rarely carried out in small branches.

g_deepak@dnaindia.net