delhi

Updated: Feb 23, 2017 15:37 IST

At a time when many people are struggling to withdraw cash, a State Bank of India ATM in South Delhi’s Sangam Vihar dispensed fake Rs 2,000 notes. The notes, which could be passed off as genuine at first glance, are replete with errors and seem to be a prank at people’s expense.

The notes, dispensed on February 6, read ‘Children Bank of India’ in place of Reserve Bank of India and ‘Guaranteed by the Children’s Government’ in place of Guaranteed by the Central Government. ‘Churan lable’ in place of the latent image and a fake ‘PK’ logo instead of the bank’s seal, are among some of the other obvious deviations on the note.

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Spot the difference 1. Bharatiya Manoranjan Bank instead of Bharatiya Reserve Bank 2. Serial number 000000 3. Rupee sign missing 4. Churan Lable instead of strip with leaf markings 5. P.K. logo instead of RBI seal 6. I promise to pay the barer two thousand coupens (sic) instead of I promise to pay the bearer the sum of two thousand rupees 7. Governor’s signature missing 8. Churan Lable instead of the Ashok emblem 9. Children Bank of India instead of Reserve Bank of India 10. Guaranteed by the Children Government instead of Gauranteed by the Central Government

Confirming the development, a senior police officer said that the ATM first dispensed four such Rs 2,000 notes to a customer. “We sent a sub-inspector to verify the allegations. He withdrew one Rs 2,000 note and that also turned out to be fake,” the officer said, adding that the other notes in the bundle were genuine.

The man left with the fake notes has been identified as Rohit, a customer care executive at a call centre located in South Delhi’s Chhattarpur. He had visited the SBI ATM at around 7.45pm on February 6 to withdraw Rs 8,000. “But all the four notes I withdrew were fake,” he alleged. Rohit noticed the deliberate mistakes on the notes like ‘promise to pay the bearer two thousand coupons’ and ’Serial number 000000’ and immediately brought it to police’s notice after which a sub-inspector was sent to the ATM located at the T-Point of Tigri in Sangam Vihar.

The policeman was unable to find any other customer with a similar complaint, so he withdrew a note from the ATM. The note that was dispensed confirmed Rohit’s allegations.

Police said they are yet to identify the people behind this. A case of manufacturing documents resembling currency notes, using forged or counterfeit notes and of cheating has been registered at Sangam Vihar police station under IPC sections 489-b, 489-e and 420. An SBI spokesman has said they will be sending a team to investigate the matter.