Torn Rs 100 notes shred trust

JANUARY 7: Jagdish Shetty of Ratna Caterers claims he has been shortchanged by his bank - the the Central Bank of India's Churchgate branch....

JANUARY 7: Jagdish Shetty of Ratna Caterers claims he has been shortchanged by his bank 8211; the the Central Bank of India8217;s Churchgate branch. He says he withdrew Rs 1.40 lakh from the bank recently only to realise a few days later that 10 hundred rupee notes in one of the bundles were torn and were stuck to ordinary paper and skillfully stapled with the rest of the notes.

Shetty quickly brought the matter to the notice of the senior bank managers, but was told that it was too late. The authorities told him that since he had already removed the pins from the bundle, there was no proof that the cash was withdrawn from their bank.

This attitude of his bank hurt him more than the loss of money. 8220;Since I8217;ve become the target of a torn-notes racket, I feel the need to alert the unsuspecting public,8221; Shetty said, displaying the notes.

In December last year, he said, cash amounts of Rs 75,000 and 65,000 were withdrawn from his bank account. However, he discovered the con job much later, when the bundle was unstapled. 8220;The torn notes were so well-arranged with the other Rs 100 notes that I could have never realised the mischief without removing the pins,8221; Shetty said. Though additional general manager of Central Bank of India, A R Kaliya, was unavailable for comment, another senior bank manager said Shetty was an old client of their bank, so his integrity cannot be doubted. However, at the same time, there8217;s no way he can prove the notes were taken from their bank.

8220;We will inquire again into the matter and ask our cash department how this unfortunate incident happened. Beyond that, what can we do?8221; the bank official asked.

Shetty8217;s case, though, is not an isolated one. In the past, many similar cases have been reported from several parts of the city. One such victim from Navi Mumbai said: 8220;In my case, I received a bundle in the Rs 500 denomination, and there was little I could do. Normally when you deposit a cash bundle in the bank, the cashier insists on removing the pins and counting the notes. But this is not done when we withdraw cash.8221;

A senior spokesman of Reserve Bank of India, however, informed: 8220;We occasionally do hear of cases wherein torn/forged notes are placed in a cash bundle, but the only way people can avoid this situation is by being more wary. The good news is that as per RBI rules, the affected parties can obtain refund for torn notes, though full value recovery may not be possible.8221;