‘Fake notes weren’t made in India & had govt safeguards’

Mateen Hafeez I TNN
Mumbai: The team investigating the source of the counterfeit notes of Rs 1,000 denomination that were seized in Mumbai late last month believe that the fakes were printed in a “government press’’ belonging to a neighbouring country. Last month, six people were caught supplying fake Rs1,000 denomination notes amounting to about Rs 4 lakh, in Mumbai. This was followed by a series of similar arrests in Hyderabad, Goa and Bangalore.

“The quality of these fake notes is very high. The paper has been imported. The new security features introduced by the Indian government have been copied by the culprits. Producing such high-quality notes requires a government printing press,’’ said a senior police officer.

The case has recently been handed over to the newly formed, National Investigating Agency (NIA).“It is also a form of financial terrorism, which spreads suspicion in the minds of the public about the authenticity of their own country’s currency,’’ said a senior ATS official.

There were only two instances where the notes failed to pass the authenticity test. The culprits could not copy the Microlettering. In the original notes, the letters ‘RBI’ and the numeral, ‘1000’ can be viewed with the help of a magnifying glass in the zone between the Mahatma Gandhi portrait and the vertical band. (see Identifying the real Mccoy). The number of ‘RBI’ words on the vertical band corresponds to the series of the currency. This was not the case with the counterfeit notes. “The fake notes also lacked the colour quality in the printing of the numeral ‘1000’ that is in the middle of the note. They tried using the Optically Variable Ink, but were unable to match it with the original,’’ said a senior police official. The colour of the numeral ‘1000’ is green when the note is held flat, but changes to blue when held at an angle. There was no colour change in the fake notes. In all other features the notes resembled the real McCoy.

“The notes possibly came from Bangladesh via West Bengal , but are yet to confirm this,’’ said an ATS officer.

Times of India, July 2, 2009