The Delhi High Court has sought the response of the Narendra Modi government over a security breach in the printing of currency at a mint in Madhya Pradesh’s Hoshangabad district.
Acting on a Public Interest Litigation filed earlier this month, the court has asked how lapses led to the printing of bank notes with threads having Arabic inscriptions on them in 2012. The security thread is one of the key distinguishing features in a bank note to prevent counterfeiting.
The PIL says the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India at Hoshangabad practically printed fake notes. An internal inquiry conducted by a former CBI director had also indicted top officials at the government-run mint for the lapse.
“Such a grave incident having implications of national security should’ve been brought on record,” the internal inquiry noted, blaming director MS Rana and other senior officials.
