Invalid currency notes found from open drain in Malda

Old invalid currency notes were found from an open drain at Malda’s Pakuahat, under the jurisdiction of Bamungola police station. Unlike some previous incidents, most of these notes are not torn and distorted.

The local residents bagged those notes before police reached there to evacuate the spot. However, the district police denied acknowledging that those demonetised currency notes were robbed by the local residents and said at least 10 lakh old currency notes were recovered.

Currency notes were found in different parts of the state, including Kolkata, soon after demonetisation was announced. Invalid notes were found in North 24 Parganas’ Rajarhat, Titagarh, Khardah, Kolkata’s Golf Green and Southern fringes – in Garia and many other places in the state.

But those cases were different from this case in Malda. “The person, who dropped those notes in the drain, was in hurry. He forgot to distort those notes before dropping them in the drain,” investigating officer of Bamungola police station said.

It should be recalled that torn and distorted invalid currency notes were found under a tree in Rajarhat a few weeks ago. The cops from Bidhannagar Commissionerate found those notes under the tree, where they were lying strewn here and there.

Torn and mangled old high value currency notes were found from a roadside drain at Titagarh, North 24 Parganas in last month. The North 24 Parganas police recovered a small packet from the drain, in which old and invalid Rs 500 notes were kept.

These incidents were a rerun of the incident in which Kolkata Police rescued two sacks filled with torn and mutilated notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes found near a garbage dump in South Kolkata’s Golf Green.

Recovering torn up notes is not a new thing to deal with for the police, after the Centre’s decision to launch the demonetisation drive. Police recovered old high value currency notes from Nadia, Murshidabad, Malda and Siliguri earlier. Few people who were trying to transport those notes to another destination were arrested.

“We’ll return those old notes to the district administration. They will decide the next step,” said a officer of Malda’s Bamungola Police Station.