Some top ranking officials of certain nationalised banks in Jammu and Kashmir are under the scanner of the intelligence agencies for their alleged involvement in circulation of fake Indian currency notes in the state, besides a few others in the northern region of the country.
The latest inputs with the intelligence agencies reveal that some top ranking officials of certain nationalised banks in J&K are indulging in circulation of FICNs. Available inputs suggest that J&K-based Over-Ground-Workers (OGWs) of a few Pakistan-based militant outfits are in constant touch with the suspected officials to pump in FICN in the country, sources said.
Sources further added that following the latest inputs, the suspected officials have been put under surveillance and the state government too has been alerted. The central agencies are concentrating more on branches of some nationalised banks located in Gandharbal in J&K, sources said, adding that barring officials of a few banks, the senior officials of almost all other banks located in the area are under the scanner. Intelligence inputs also confirm that “high quality” FICN are being printed in Quetta, Karachi, Lahore and North-West Frontier Province in Pakistan under the supervision of the top brass of Pakistan’s ISI, which has assigned the task of pumping FICN in India to several militant outfits. Militant outfits are, in turn, using their OGWs for the job. The OGWs have been asked to lure top bank officials and use the latter as conduits for the job, sources said.
Information has already been passed on to the DRI and the CBI that the fake currency could also be routed through Dubai, Nepal, Thailand and Bangladesh. Sources further added that the quality of these fake notes would be so high that it would be very difficult for a laymen to identify fake notes.
Meanwhile, the government has decided to set up five “special cells” to check the circulation of FICN in the country. These centres will soon be set up in Chandigarh, Kolkata, Guwahati, Lucknow and Delhi. All the five centres will be controlled by the CBI, the nodal agency for curbing circulation of FICN in the country. The Directorate General of Revenue Intelligence has been nominated as the lead intelligence agency for this purpose, sources added.