Now, SBI ATM in Uttar Pradesh dispenses scanned Rs 2000 note!

After a Delhi SBI ATM dispensed a fake note saying it was from the ‘Children Bank’s of India’, an SBI ATM in Shahjahanpur in UP reportedly dispensed a scanned copy of a Rs 2000 note. There was a mass protest after bank officials refused to acknowledge that he note was disbursed by the ATM.

Arvind Gupta, a jeweller who withdrew Rs 10,000 from the ATM got five Rs 2000 notes of which one, he claims, looked clearly fake. He was quoted saying by TOI: “Of these, one note, with serial number 5 DN 029593, was clearly counterfeit. The paper was not the type on which currency notes are printed. On exiting the ATM and holding the note up to the light, I could clearly see that it was not genuine and appeared to have been scanned from a genuine note and then printed.”

The bank next to the ATM was closed, but there was some staff who reportedly asked him to come back on Monday. The jeweller was joined by others who staged a protest and Gupta later filed a complaint to the sub-divisional magistrate of Jalalabad and the station officer of Jalalabad police station.

The bank manager JP Chandel has however, dismissed the possibility of the note being disbursed by the ATM: “All the currency is refilled by our own staff. Gupta seems to have found just one note. Why would someone risk their job for just Rs 2,000? It seems to be an attempt to put some sort of pressure on the bank and its staff. I will definitely check the CCTV footage once the bank opens for work on Monday.”

Even SBI’s deputy general manager SK Wadhera ruled out the possibility that an ATM would dispense fake notes, however he added that they would check the CCTV footage.

Earlier, A 27-year-old man was arrested in connection with a case in southeast Delhi's Sangam Vihar area where a SBI ATM had allegedly dispensed four notes of Rs 2,000 with "Children Bank Of India" written on them. Romil Baaniya, DCP (Southeast) said that the cash custodian was arrested. "The accused was already identified yesterday and today we arrested him. He has been identified as 27-year-old Mohammed Isha, who is a resident of Sangam Vihar," he said. Isha was the custodian of the cash at the time it was being placed in the ATM. He is an employee of Brinks India Pvt Ltd which is responsible for the task of placing cash in ATMs, said the officer.

During the course of investigation, CCTV footage of the ATM vending machine area was thoroughly scanned. Isha had done his bachelors of Arts from Pratapgarh in Uttar Pradesh. Rohit Kumar, who works as a customer care executive at a call centre in Chhatarpur, had gone to withdraw cash from the State Bank of India (SBI) ATM in Sangam Vihar on February 6. He got four notes of Rs 2,000 which had "Churan label" written on them in place of the official watermark.

The notes also had "PK" written on them in place of the RBI stamp and the top left corner had "Bharatiya Manoranjan Bank" written instead of Reserve Bank of India. He approached police with a complaint and a case was registered. Earlier, a case under sections 489B (Using as genuine, forged or counterfeit currency-notes or bank-notes), 489E (Making or using documents resembling currency-notes or bank-notes) and 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) was registered at Sangam Vihar police station.

Later, the sections were finalised as 406 (Punishment for criminal breach of trust), 409 (Criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent) and 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of IPC.