Wads of fake currency were seized from the bank's chest in its Dumariyaganj branch in Siddarthnagar district earlier this week. Cashier of the branch Sudhakar Tripathi was

arrested along with another person Abid Shekh for running a fake currency racket in the district.

SBI's chief general manager Shiv Kumar told PTI that the incident has been a shock for the bank which is working hard to restore the confidence of its customers.

He said the fake currency did not get circulated among the public, adding that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and police are examining the currency chest of the branch. If any other branch of the bank is found with counterfeit currency, then that would be examined as well.

However, RBI's regional director J B Bhoria said Uttarakhand has around 500 currency chests which are examined by the banking regulator at regular periods. But, he added, it

is the responsibility of banks to regularly inspect their currency chests as it is not practically possible for the RBI to do so.

Bhoria further said a currency chest is opened in the branch head office of nationalised banks by issuing a license. All nationalised banks of that particular region can take cash from the currency chest of such banks.

He said since a currency chest was established in Dumariyaganj branch of SBI, it was the responsibility of the bank to regularly examine the chest.