NIA nabs PNB manager in fake currency case
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested a manager of the Punjab National Bank (PNB) based in Saharanpur in connection with a counterfeit currency scam, officials said on Tuesday. Amit Kumar, a currency chest manager at the bank, was found at his brother-in-law’s house in Chandigarh and taken into custody on September 7.
The arrest comes after the Sadar Bazar police recovered fake Indian currency notes worth Rs 17.29 crore from the bank’s currency chest in Saharanpur on August 26, a statement issued by the NIA said. Kumar had been on the run since the registration of the case. The first FIR, case number 0431/2026, was filed that day at Sadar Bazar police station under section 178 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
A preliminary check, followed by a full audit by teams from the Reserve Bank of India and PNB, found large amounts of fake Rs 500 notes. The issue started with a shortfall in a remittance sent to the RBI’s Jaipur office, but it quickly became a bigger discovery. At first, officials found about Rs 7.4 crore in suspected fake notes, but as they kept checking, the total rose to Rs 17.29 crore. Investigators believe the genuine notes may have been removed and replaced with counterfeits over time.
The first inquiry suggested that three PNB employees were involved. Along with Kumar, the group includes Ravi Kumar Kanse, the senior divisional manager, and Sushil Kumar, the manager of the Saharanpur currency chest, who is also listed as Sushil Sharma in records. The bank has suspended all three.
Because of the large amount of fake currency found and the possibility that a bigger network was involved, the Ministry of Home Affairs handed over the investigation to the NIA. The agency re-registered the case on September 3 as RC-02/2026/NIA/LKW at its Lucknow branch. CCTV footage from the investigation reportedly showed a part-time housekeeper taking notes from currency bundles inside the chest, raising further suspicion of insider involvement.
The NIA has taken electronic devices and documents from the homes of the suspended officials and is now checking call records and movement patterns. Agency officials say the investigation is now focused on finding out where the fake notes came from, how they got into the secure currency chest, where any real cash may have gone, and who else might be involved, including any cross-border links.
