Unprecedented, says RBI

The Reserve Bank of India receives soiled and mutilated notes from banks across Tamil Nadu and Puducherry for destruction on a regular basis.

These notes are processed for their genuineness and then shredded.

RBI sources said this was an unprecedented case that did not have any parallel. They explained that normally, transportation through trains was considered safer than taking cash by road.

A representative of the RBI also travels in the same train, but in a different coach.

Further, a minimum of 12 armed personnel take turns in guarding the parcel van, as per established protocol.

They said that such soiled notes are transported from various parts of the State on a monthly basis. Daily, several lakh pieces of currency notes are destroyed. Until they are destroyed, the damaged and mutilated notes continue to be legal tender.

On the possibility of distinguishing the soiled notes from the regular ones, they said it was impossible to have any mark on such a large volume of used notes. The currency that was stolen could easily be circulated without raising any suspicion, experts say.