Bhoiwada police refuse to file FIR on fake cash despite RBI regulations

MY FIRST STORY WITH MID DAY :D (July 1, 2008)

Rohini Sharma, HDFC bank’s Parel branch manager was stunned when cops from the Bhoiwada police station refused to file an FIR (First Information Report) regarding fake currency from two corporates. What further shocked her was that the police officials advised her to settle the matter directly with the firms. Sharma approached the Bhoiwada police on June 30 and said that the cops seemed ignorant of the action they were supposed to take regarding the counterfeit notes and caused much unnecessary hassles for the bank officials.
“They refused to register the FIR and even tried convincing us to settle the matter directly with the two companies that deposited the fake notes along with a bulk of other notes. According to RBI regulations, when a branch detects forged notes it has to bring it to the notice of the local police station and file an FIR with the police. These regulations were imparted to all banks via a circular dated August 31, 2004. They only agreed to take action after we took the help of a retired ACP and showed them the RBI circular. The procedure took about six hours,” informed Sharma.
The notes came to light when the bank’s main office discovered the fake notes - one Rs 500 note and an Rs 100 note- after passing the notes through the currency-checking machine. They immediately alerted Sharma and she in return took action as per the RBI regulations. The police on the other hand denied reports and were quite irked on being questioned about the incident. Ambadas Gadade, senior police inspector, Bhoiwada police station, under whose jurisdiction the case falls said, “They only came once yesterday and we did not refuse to file the FIR.”
Sharma also complained that there is much need to revise the regulations regarding the course of action taken against the circulation of fake notes. “The police treat the people who have deposited fake currency, as criminals and the cases take about five or six years to fall in place with the courts. These customers are mostly innocent and are unaware about the authenticity of the notes. It is a gruelling procedure and we are pushing senior management and RBI officials for some relief in this case,” she added.
According to Sharma, all branches come across three or four such fake notes which are normally Rs 500 notes and Rs 1,000 notes and also added that Rs 100 notes also turn out to be fakes sometimes.