Fake Rs 2,000 notes: Another ‘Children Bank of India’ victim steps forward

Days before the cash machine of the State Bank of India in south Delhi’s Sangam Vihar dispensed five notes with ‘Churan Lable’ on them, another ATM in Ghaziabad had dished out a fake Rs 2,000 note to an employee of a MNC.

Days before the cash machine of the State Bank of India in south Delhi’s Sangam Vihar dispensed five notes with ‘Churan Lable’ on them, another ATM in Ghaziabad had dished out a fake Rs 2,000 note to an employee of a MNC.

Sidhant Shashikar tried his best to recover his lost money but the bank manager allegedly dismissed his allegations saying that all the notes are “sorted” before filling them in the ATM’s vault. (HT Photo)

The victim in this January 24 incident, 26-year-old Sidhant Shashikar, tried his best to recover his lost money, but the bank manager allegedly dismissed his allegations saying that all the notes are “sorted” before the ATM’s vault is filled. After reading about the fake notes at Sangam Vihar and police action after that, he is now set to file a police report.

Shashikar is employed as a network engineer in HCL Technologies and was headed to work when he decided to withdraw Rs 2,000.

Shashikar had stopped at an SBI ATM at the bank’s branch in Indirapuram’s Gyankhand area and used his grandmother’s PNB card to withdraw Rs2,000. The note that was allegedly dispensed at 8.57am was strikingly similar to the ones dispensed by another SBI ATM in south Delhi’s Sangam Vihar on February 6.

“When I checked the note, I could not believe my eyes. It had the words ‘Churan Lable’, ‘Bharatiya Manoranjan Bank’ and ‘Children Bank of India’ written on it. I immediately realised something was wrong and showed it to the guard at the ATM before visiting the branch manager,” said Shashikar.

The bank manager, however, returned the hand-written letter to Shashikar by writing that the note in question did not pertain to them “as all the notes are sorted before replenishing them in the ATM”.

An angry Shashikar did not report to work that day and returned home to complain about the error and the bank manager’s alleged response to his aunt.

His aunt immediately shot off a mail to SBI officials at gm.customer@sbi.co.in, but allegedly received no response.

“There is no redressal system where I can seek help. Your customer care numbers have been constantly busy and not responding and not giving me the right choice. Your website is not opening,” she wrote in her mail.

The family said they did not approach the police as they had little hopes from them, but had safely kept the note with them all this while.