‘Dumped cash’ turns out to be stolen fabric
Hundreds of residents of a Ghaziabad locality on Wednesday scrambled to lay hands on a heap of cartons following rumours that some politicians had dumped a truckload of ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes.
At around 8am, locals rushed to Maharajpur in Ghaziabad, which borders Delhi, to pick one of the around 100 cartons lying sealed on a plot of land marked for a crematorium.
“Everyone swamped the area to take home a carton, or more. There was a mad rush. Some picked up the cartons and headed home without even opening them,” said Farman Ali, who lives in the area.
Police rushed to the spot, calmed the crowd and opened the cartons. Much to the disappointment of the “booty hunters”, the boxes were a waste — discarded fabric strips and weaving yarn.
On Wednesday evening the police said that the material belonged to a Ludhiana-based company and an FIR was lodged in Punjab.
“The material was stolen but found dumped here. On the basis of information on the cartons, we have approached the company and told them about the incident. In case they want, their complaint can be lodged here. But, how the material got dumped here will be known only after the accused are nabbed,” said Anup Singh, circle officer.
In a surprise move, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday evening announced scrapping of ₹1,000 and ₹500 notes from midnight, a move aimed at stamping out corruption and draining illicit cash from the economy.
With larger notes of little use, people are being forced to dig deep for loose change.
Six-month-old Rishika Pandey came to the rescue of her parents, who were left with just ₹330 and some ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes.
“We were trying to call up friends and even family members to ask for small notes to meet our needs ... when was saw Rishika playing with her piggy bank,” said her mother Shikha. “We realised that the piggy bank could have 100s and 50s.”
She wasn’t wrong. They found ₹2,800, just about enough to see the Shalimar Garden Extension-based family through for a few days.