GUNTUR: Less than two weeks since the introduction of the Rs 2000 currency note, counterfeit notes are showing up in the market.
One such note turned up in the hands of the owner of an APOnline centre in Vinukonda in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh on Monday. The police registered a case on Tuesday and took up investigation.
APOnline centres operate bill pay services for state utilities such as electricity and telephones in Andhra Pradesh. Its' centres, such as the one in Vinukonda handle hundreds of payments everyday. On Monday, as the owner of the centre, Shekhar, counted his take for the day, he found 20 of the new Rs 2,000 notes in his cash box. Upon close observation, he suspected that one of them was fake as it had a dark print with no image of Mahatma Gandhi on it.
Sekhar informed the Vinukonda police who checked the note and found that it was a counterfeit one. Based on Shekhar's complaint, they are checking the CCTV footage available at the APOnline centre to identify the person who turned in the bill.