No fake note likely to be dispensed through our ATM, says SBI; suspects 'involvement of miscreants'
SBI today said that no fake note is likely to be dispensed through Bank’s ATMs at any time, suspecting involvement of some miscreants.
Reacting to the reports of ATM dispensing fake Rs 2,000 notes on February 6, the State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday said that "no fake note is likely to be dispensed through Bank’s ATMs at any time," suspecting "involvement of some miscreants."
The incident was reported in south Delhi Sangam Vihar where a SBI ATM dispensed the fake notes with "Children Bank of India" printed in place of Reserve Bank of India and ‘Guaranteed by the Children’s Government’ in place of ‘Guaranteed by the Central Government’.
The notes also had numerous glaring discrepancies including the words "Churan lable", a "PK" logo and "000000" serial number.
In a statement issued today, the SBI said, "SBI has in place at all its Currency Chests a very robust system for monitoring the quality of notes. All notes received by the Bank and to be dispensed by the Bank, either through its ATMs or its branches, are processed through the latest state-of-the-art Note Sorting Machines. These machines are equipped with the templates of all legal tender in the country and any note not conforming to the security features is separated as ‘Suspect Note’ for further manual scrutiny."
"Thus, no fake note is likely to be dispensed through Bank’s ATMs at any time," the bank said.
The SBI said that it is reported that the complainant never approached the Bank.
"This ATM has reportedly been sealed by Delhi Police for further investigation. The DVSS footage obtained from the ATM has been handed over to the Police authorities. Meanwhile, the Bank is examining the notes in all other ATMs handled by the same custodians of the Bank and replenished by the same Cash Replenishment Agency," the bank said.
"As the possibility of fake notes from Bank’s ATMs is very remote, the Bank suspects involvement of some miscreants with mischievous intent. However, further investigations are underway." it said.
The Sangam Vihar police have registered a case of manufacturing documents resembling currency notes, using forged or counterfeit notes and of cheating under IPC sections 489-b, 489-e and 420.
Delhi Police has said that the culprits behind the fake notes have been identified.
Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajiv Ranjan Singh told IANS that the vendor who supplied the cash to the ATM and the persons who inserted the fake notes had been identified.
The officer put the number of fake notes dispensed by the ATM at three.
Asked why no arrest had been made so far, Singh said: "The case is still a matter of investigation. The moment everything is done, arrests shall take place."
Opposition slams Narendra Modi government for lapse
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the fake currency.
"A Prime Minister who can't even print notes properly; how can he run the country? He has reduced the whole nation into a laughing stock," the Aam Aadmi Party leader tweeted.
Congress, meanwhile, termed it an "epic disaster of the banking system", saying this destroys its credibility and also reflects operational failure of demonetisation.
"The current example is a manifestion of the monumental operational failure that demonetisation has been in this country. Not only are we finding counterfeit currency notes being exported to India from Pakistan, but also finding from domestic ATMs fake currency notes being given to the customers," said Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha.
"This has to be termed as a disaster on an epic scale as it destroys the credibility of the banking system in which millions deposit their hard-earned savings," he added.