Rijiju denies smuggling of fake currency post demonetization amidst contradicting reports!

Fake Indian currency notes (FICN) worth around Rs 400 crore are in circulation in the country at any given point of time and smuggling of such notes from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal has completely stopped after the demonetization announcement, Union minister Kiren Rijiju announced yesterday.

However, it may be brought to light that Rijiju's statement comes amidst a recent agency report whereby counterfeit notes of Rs 2000 notes worth Rs 64,000 have already surfaced in Narayanpur area in northern Assam even as the shortage of notes continued to affect the state.

Local television reports said a woman, Sumi Pal, had reportedly given Rs 65,000 in old notes to a local lad, Abhijit Das, yesterday and he had handed her Rs 64,000 in Rs 2000 notes and two Rs 500 notes, after purportedly exchanging it from a local bank. When the woman went to deposit the new notes at her bank today, the authorities told her that the new Rs 2000 notes were counterfeit.

The point to be noted here is that although the fact cannot be denied that the FICN (Fake Indian Currency Notes) has been badly affected due to the new demonetization policy of the government of India, for how long will this hiatus go on?

It may be mentioned here that the border town in West Bengal district of Malda is the ground zero of the fake currency network in India, with the counterfeit notes making their way in from Bangladesh through the border. The Border Security Force, which dedicates a large amount of its time to keeping a watch on this illegal trade, is a relieved lot as of now. But they say the business will be up and running again. And the above issue of the seizure of counterfeit currency notes from Assam proves that the business may have already begun!

TNT News

Image: Representational image