Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s idea of tackling the growth and circulation of fake currency with the demonetisation scheme that he had announced on November 8, appears to have found a positive impact in the city on Wednesday.
The residents found old currency notes in Rs. 500 denomination to the tune of about Rs.10 lakh floating in a drain near VUDA Mithilapuri Colony and also in Vikalangula Colony under PM Palem Police station limits in the morning.
Presuming that the notes were genuine a number of people entered the drain to recover the notes. A few of them even rushed to the bank and nearest petrol bunk to exchange the notes, only to be told that the notes were fake ones.
According to the police, two persons riding a bike came to the spot and dumped the currency notes into the drain and fled from the spot.
K. Ravi Kumar, resident at the area, said “we thought that the unidentified persons were unable to exchange the black money, as Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 were no longer legal tenders, and so they had dumped them into the drain. After recovering the notes from the drain the people realised that the notes were fake.”
Inspector of PM Palem Police Station, K. Lakshmana Murthy said a few of the locals recovered all the notes and fled from the spot even before the police could catch them. Police are suspecting that some gangs, who were in the business of circulating fake currency notes had thrown them into the drain, as they could no longer be circulated after the demonetisation drive.
Teams of police are on the job to identify the persons who have thrown the fake currency into the drain.
