The circulation of fake currency notes appears to be rising at an alarming rate in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand. A nexus of criminals involved in the fake currency racket seems to be active in the region, but only few such cases have been reported to the police.
Sources state that Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence(ISI) is suspected of fuelling this racket and pumping in fake currency notes into this region through Nepal. Apart from fake currency notes, the State’s border with Nepal is also notorious for smuggling of wildlife commodities, narcotics and other contraband but the authorities in Uttarakhand have not yet been able to strengthen security to the desired level along the border.
Recently in the State Bank of India, Srinagar Garhwal branch near the GMVN Tourist Rest House, one unknown woman came with 26 notes of Rs 500 denomination to deposit in the bank. On suspicion the employee of the bank asked her to write down her phone number on the deposit form, but the woman escaped from the bank leaving the fake currency notes behind.
According to Srinagar Police Station, the incident occurred on September 11 and the police report was lodged by the SBI Branch Manager Ramesh Kumar Gupta on the same day. The police registered the case against unknown person under section 489(B) and the investigation of the case was handed over to sub inspector Anil Kotiyal, but even after 13 days police has failed to solve the fake currency case.
Superintendent of Police Vimla Gunjyal told The Pioneer that circulating fake currency is a serious offence and that the police is making all efforts to solve the case, but the State Bank of India, Srinagar has not provided the CCTV footage of the day in question. The bank officer told the police that the hard disc not operating and that a technician had been approached to resolve the problem. Gunjyal questioned the use of installing a CCTV camera when it can not be utilised in time of need. She said that the Srinagar police station’s Station Officer has been instructed to issue a notice to the SBI branch seeking the CCTV footage of the day when the woman came to deposit the fake currency notes.
Sources aver that though only once such incident may have been reported in Pauri district this month, the nexus circulating fake currency is quite active in the region.The contraband is allegedly being smuggled from Nepal by Pakistani agents but the authorities here are yet to establish the truth behind these allegations and take concrete steps to stop this.