An outsourced bank worker earning around ₹ 11,000 a month has emerged as a key focus of the investigation into the recovery of counterfeit Indian currency with a face value of ₹ 17.29 crore from a Punjab National Bank (PNB) currency chest in Saharanpur, with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) examining his reported assets, financial transactions and proximity to the suspended currency chest manager.
However, his reported proximity to suspended currency chest manager Amit Kumar has prompted investigators to examine his role and access to the facility. The worker’s reported lifestyle has also drawn investigators’ attention. Investigators are examining property documents, bank accounts, vehicle records and payment trails to determine whether his known income can account for the reported assets.
The worker, employed as a driver-loader at the currency chest, is reportedly linked to five houses, an SUV, a sedan and two motorcycles. Investigators are examining when the assets were acquired, in whose names they were registered and the source of funds used to purchase them. The agencies have not established any direct link between the assets and the counterfeit currency case so far. The NIA is examining whether fake notes were substituted for genuine currency and, if so, what happened to the original cash.
Despite earning ₹ 11,000 a month, he allegedly hired another driver for around ₹ 500 a day instead of regularly driving himself. The asset trail assumes significance as investigators are also trying to reconstruct how ₹ 17.29 crore counterfeit currency reached a PNB currency chest meant to hold genuine cash.
A senior police official privy to the investigation said the worker’s official duties were limited to driving and loading, but he allegedly spent considerable time inside the currency chest and functioned more like the manager’s personal assistant. “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 official said. Police raided his residence in Manak Mau on Wednesday, and documents and other material recovered during the search are being examined.
For investigators, the outsourced worker’s reported assets are not proof of involvement, but any unexplained disparity between his known income and wealth could provide an important lead in tracing the wider financial network behind the counterfeit currency, the official added. Investigators are tracing the source and movement of the counterfeit notes and 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 banking system and whether any of it subsequently entered circulation, the official said.
