‘Children Bank of India’ notes worth Rs 9.90L surface in Hyderabad, man held

The Hyderabad Police arrested on Tuesday a man who was allegedly trying to deposit Rs 9.90 lakh in fake currency notes bearing the name of the “Children’s Bank of India”.

Malkajgiri police arrested one Yousuf Shaik from Moula-Ali area of the city after he was caught by Allahabad Bank staff while allegedly trying to deposit fake currency in the denominations of Rs 2,000 and Rs 500.

This comes weeks after fake Rs 2000 banknotes bearing the imprint of the “Children Bank of India” were dispensed from ATMs in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.

According to the police, Shaik allegedly came to the Allahabad Bank branch near Radhika Theatre at AS Rao Nagar soon after the bank opened at 10.30 am. He quietly handed over a few bundles of notes to the bank cashier to deposit the same in his savings bank account. There were in all 400 notes of Rs 2,000 denomination and 380 notes of Rs 500 denomination, amounting to a total of Rs 9.90 lakh, police said.

The cashier, initially, did not suspect anything as the notes were similar to the original ones. However, while counting he had a close look at the notes and was shocked to notice that they had the imprint of the “Children Bank of India” instead of the Reserve Bank of India, police said.

While holding the customer at the counter, he quietly informed the same to the branch manager, who in turn informed the authorities.

Within minutes, the police arrived on the scene and took Shaik into custody. During interrogation, Shaik, who runs a small stationery shop in Malkajgiri area, told police that he had got the money from some customers.

Malkajgiri inspector Janaki Reddy said after a lot of grilling, Shaik admitted that he had procured the notes from a wholesale dealer in Osmangunj area. “This dealer has several such bundles of counterfeit notes. In fact, they are paper notes used by children for playing,” Reddy said.

Rachakonda commissioner of police Mahesh Bhagawat told Hindustan Times the cops were on high alert since the fake notes used by Shaik were similar to those, which had surfaced in some ATMs in Delhi and UP. “But this person is a small stationery shop owner who tried to cheat the bank authorities with fake notes and is not part of any racket,” he said.

According to bank sources, Shaik opened his savings account only in June 2016 and had been making only smaller transactions. This was the first time that he tried to deposit such a huge amount. Recently, he had approached the bank authorities for some loan for his shop, but it was rejected as he did not meet the requirements, bank authorities said.