₹10k in demonetised notes found in ravine

Sanitation workers busy with pre-monsoon nullah cleaning were shocked to find wads of demonetised notes instead of the usual silt and muck from a closed drain in Thane on Saturday. The Thane Municipal Corporation’s (TMC) workers found old currency worth ₹10,000 stashed in a gutter near Thane railway station. Officials believe there are more notes in the same drain.

Balaji Haldekar, medical officer of TMC, said, “Our regular pre-monsoon nullah cleaning work is in progress. Around 9.30am, the workers were cleaning a gutter near B cabin, when they stumbled across several notes of ₹500 and ₹1,000. There were around ₹10,000 in demonetised notes inside just one chamber. We feel that we might find few more after opening other chamber cover of this drain or some of the banknotes might even have flown through the drains to the bigger nullah.”

Haldekar said he has asked the concerned official to inform the Naupada police about the notes so they can investigate further. After the Centre demonetised old notes of ₹500 and ₹1,000 last November, the Thane police have caught several professionals and college students with such notes. The officials feels that fearing getting caught, some residents in the vicinity might have thrown them in the drain.

C Jadhav, senior police inspector of Naupada, said, “We have made a note of the incident and no complaint has been registered. Some unknown people has dumped the money and in case any eye witness comes forward or if we suspect any person, we will register a complaint.”

Some old notes were even stolen from the spot by passers-by while the remaining were handed over to the police.

The workers were cleaning a gutter near B cabin when they stumbled across several notes of ₹500 and ₹1,000... We feel that we might find a few more after opening the other chamber cover of this drain.

BALAJI HALDEKAR, medical officer, Thane Municipal Corporation