New Delhi: When the Punjab National Bank (PNB) Saharanpur Branch fell short of Rs 4.36 lakh while sending a remittance to the Reserve Bank of India, an internal inquiry led to the discovery of counterfeit notes worth Rs 7.4 crore, the police said Tuesday.
The matter first came to light on 10 August when a remittance about to be dispatched to the RBI fell short of Rs 4.36 lakh, SSP (Saharanpur) Abhinandan told ThePrint. “An internal audit revealed the discovery of a large quantity of fake currency in the bank’s money cash chest. Subsequently, the bank authorities registered a complaint,” said the SSP.
An FIR was registered on Monday at Sadar police station under sections of the BNS related to the financial crime of counterfeiting currency notes. Subsequently, a Special Investigative Team (SIT) was formed to look into the matter.
“The FIR was lodged after receiving a complaint from PNB nodal officer Arun Kumar Chaubey where he named Ravi Kumar, divisional manager and currency chest managers Sushil Sharma and Amit Kumar,” he added.
Meanwhile, a separate complaint was filed against a housekeeper, Vishal Kumar, the officer added. “Kumar has been named in the complaint in connection to a distinct cash shortfall in the bank. The complainant has submitted incriminating evidence and the matter is being probed further,” the SSP said.
The SSP told ThePrint that the SIT is closely monitoring the case and at present the counting of the notes is still in progress. “The team is now looking into bank transaction records and audit ledgers,” the officer said. He further added that surveillance footage of the cash chest has been obtained to look into how the currency was replaced and who had access to the heavily secured area.
“The team is also investigating how many more people are involved in the racket and how long the counterfeit currency remained undetected,” the officer added.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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PNB is always in the news for such wrong news. Any financial wrongdoing anywhere in India and PNB is a part of it.
The Union govt must aggressively try to sell off PNB to private investors. Taxpayer’s money is precious and must not be wasted on such good for nothing institutions/corporations.