Bhubaneswar: Amid allegations some influential individuals might have engaged people from slums and nearby areas to get the discontinued Rs 2,000 notes exchanged, a team of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on Wednesday questioned those having queued up in front of the regional office of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in Odisha capital.
According to sources, a two-member team of the agency examined identity-related documents and questioned them over the source of the money. “We are here to verify information regarding long queue in front of the RBI. We haven’t received any complaint. Details will be revealed after a probe,” an EOW official said.
Individuals are now lining up at RBI to swap the discontinued Rs 2000 notes after the deadline to deposit and exchange the high-denomination currency at banks ended on October 7. But what raised suspicion here was that most of the people in the queues were carrying exactly 10 pieces of Rs 2,000 notes. When asked, some of the people admitted to have been standing for exchange of notes at a commission of Rs 200-300. They, however, expressed ignorance about the identity of people behind the scenes.
The RBI authorities also feigned ignorance about people being paid commission for exchanging the currency notes. “As per norms, we are keeping necessary identity-related documents of those coming to the RBI for exchanging notes. This apart, CCTV camera has also been installed at the exchange counter,” said a senior official.
The official further said the regional office of RBI had received Rs 2,000 notes of around Rs 2 crore in the last two days. “More than 95 per cent of the notes are being exchanged and the rest getting deposited,” he added.
