Contractual worker at centre of ₹17-cr note swap

A contract worker, earning around ₹11,000 a month has emerged key to the investigation of counterfeit currency of ₹17.29 crore recovered from a Punjab National Bank (PNB) currency chest in Saharanpur, according to a police officer familiar with the probe.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is examining the worker’s assets, financial transactions and proximity to the currency chest manager who has already been suspended by the bank.

The worker, employed as a driver-loader at the currency chest,may be the effective owner of five houses, an SUV, a sedan and two motorcycles, the officer added. Investigators are examining when these assets were acquired, in whose names they were registered, and the source of funds used to purchase them.

Investigative agencies have thus far not established any direct link between the assets and the counterfeit currency, the officer said, adding that the worker’s reported proximity to the suspended manager Amit Kumar has prompted investigators to examine his role.

The police officer said the worker’s official duties were limited to driving and loading, but that he allegedly spent considerable time with the currency chest and functioned more like the manager’s personal assistant. A currency chest is a facility maintained by banks to store and manage large quantities of cash on behalf of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

“His access to the facility, the nature of work he actually performed and whether he had access to cash-handling areas are being scrutinised,” the police officer said.

The worker’s reported lifestyle has also drawn attention. Despite his ₹11,000 monthly salary, he allegedly hired another driver at around ₹500 a day instead of regularly driving himself. Investigators are now examining property documents, bank accounts, vehicle records and payment trails to establish whether his known income can account for the assets.

Police raided his residence in Manakmau on Wednesday, and documents and other material recovered during the search are being examined.

The asset trail is significant because investigators are simultaneously trying to reconstruct how ₹17.29 crore in counterfeit currency reached a PNB currency chest meant for genuine cash. NIA is examining whether fake notes were substituted for genuine currency and, if so, what happened to the original cash.

Investigators are examining whether the case is linked to a larger network, including a possible foreign connection. Cash movement records and banking transactions are expected to help establish how the fake currency entered the system and whether any of it subsequently reached circulation.