Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

Rs.30 lakh not cleared by RBI let into circulation?

S. Vijay Kumar

IT officials lodge complaint; case transferred to CB-CID

Serina Banu

MADURAI: In another twist to the Serina case, the police are investigating a complaint from the Income Tax Department that currency notes to the tune of Rs.30 lakh, part of the Rs.1.4 crore seized from her house in 2003, were "not cleared by the Reserve Bank of India for circulation."

Highly placed police sources said IT officials had referred serial numbers of the currency notes seized from Serina's house to the RBI. It was then detected that the serial numbers pertaining to Rs.10 lakh were still in the RBI's currency wallet and those pertaining to Rs.20 lakh were not cleared for circulation.

The IT officials alerted the Currency Note Presses in Nasik and Mysore about the discrepancy, and lodged a complaint with the Karuppayoorani police here on Saturday. A case under Section 489 IPC (counterfeit currency) was registered against four persons, including Serina and her mother Remija. The case was transferred to the Crime Branch Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID).

The entire sum of Rs.1.4 crore was deposited in a nationalised bank on the Madurai district court campus and treated as a "deposit." Bank officials said the money was remitted to the currency chest, and they were not aware of further transactions.

"We issued receipts for the deposit of Rs.1.4 crore, and no action was taken at the branch level to ascertain the genuineness of the notes. If there was any counterfeit note, it would have been detected at the currency chest," a senior bank official said.

Income tax not paid

Sources in the IT Department said no income tax had been paid for the money, and proceedings were being initiated in that regard. "Going by the RBI's findings, a prima facie case has been made out, strengthening the suspicion that Rs. 30 lakh was counterfeit currency. It is not clear how the serial numbers matched those of Rs.1,000 denomination notes in the custody of the Currency Note Press," a senior police official told The Hindu .

On July 9, 2003, the Karuppayoorani police claimed to have seized 30 kg of ganja and Rs.1.4 crore from Serina's house in Anbu Nagar here. A special court that heard the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act case acquitted Serina and two others early this month. It also directed that the Rs.1.4 crore be handed over to Jagadish Raja of Tirunelveli, who claimed to be its owner.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Rs.30 lakh not cleared by RBI let into circulation?
Polytechnic colleges too see heavy demand now
Bench tells Collector to allot land for burial ground
Colleges seek additional seats from university
Sri Lanka: CPI (M) expresses concern
Government targeting Opposition cadres: DPI
Applications for B. Tech. courses
Desilting of drainage channels begins
New DGM for Madurai Airport
Perhaps a Pandora's Box
Around the City
In Madurai Today
Reader's Mail

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu