UP govt recommends CBI probe into fake currency racket

Lucknow, Aug 9 (UNI) Uttar Pradesh government today recommended a CBI probe into the fake currency racket which was unearthed after recovery of Rs 1.58 crore of fake currency in Dumariaganj branch of State Bank of India(SBI) in Siddharthnagar district early this week.

CBI probe came two days after the state government had ordered probe by Special Investigation Team (SIT) which was objected to by the Centre as per the Supreme Court ruling which necessiated the CBI probe in case of recovery of printed phoney Indian currency amounting to over Rs.50,000.

Confirming this, the official sources said a recommendation for the probe by the premier investigation agency was sent this morning.

The recovery of fake currency from the currency chest of Dumariaganj branch of SBI had come in as a shock as the preliminary probe had indicated of wider ramifications in the racket and also in view of the fact that the SBI branch was situated very close to Indo-Nepal border.

Six people, including Sudhakar Tripathi, the cashier of the SBI branch had been arrested after the fake currency racket came to the fore.

On July 29, Special Task Force (STF) of the Uttar Pradesh Police had held Sudhakar and seized Rs 7,21,000, including fake notes worth Rs 5,000 from his house and had later requested the RBI for currency screening in the SBI branch.

On August 5, a team comprising senior RBI officials had reached the bank and seized counterfeit Indian currency worth Rs 20 lakh from the branch's main chest. After screening the currency, a total of Rs 1.58 crore notes have been detected as fake.

Immediately after the recovery, the RBI had banned transaction of 14 other SBI branches connected to Dumariagnaj branch of SBI.

Meanwhile, the SIT team has reached the Dumariaganj branch and started with the investigation today, a report from Siddharthnagar said.

Prior to this, a couple of incidents of fake currency being in circulation in Uttar Pradesh had come to the light.

UNI SB AE UCS1733