Daijiworld Media Network – Koppal (DC)

Koppal, Mar 26: Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the withdrawal of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denomination old notes and the introduction of Rs 2,000 notes to weed out black money and fake currency notes on November 8, 2016. But it did not take long for counterfeit notes of Rs 2000 denomination to start circulating.

The same move of banning high-value notes and to fight counterfeit notes seems to have gone wrong as fake notes of Rs 2000 denomination are found to be circulated among daily wage workers in Koppal district.

The common man had already started to feel the pinch ahead of upcoming assembly polls in Karnataka as most of the ATMs have gone empty. Now the circulation of fake notes has further caused inconvenience to the public.

In Gangavathi, a resident of 22nd ward paid salary to construction workers where they found a fake note of Rs 2000.

The locals grew suspicious and found out that the note was indeed a fake one. They also said that the forgers have managed to copy most of the features except the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi.

There has been several incidents of law-enforcement agencies seizing bundles of counterfeit notes especially Rs 2000 denomination notes across India. In 2016, in just 53 days between November 8 and December 31, demonetization itself a total of 2,272 fake notes of Rs 2000 denomination were seized.