People sending demonetised notes abroad by courier: Customs

April 9, 2017

New Delhi, Apr 9: The customs department has unearthed a new modus operandi of sending demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes abroad by courier in a bid to get them converted here later.

After these high denomination notes were taken out of circulation by the government in November last, Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) were given a longer window till June 30 to get them exchanged, whereas citizens who were in the country at that time were allowed to deposit the old notes till December 30, 2016.

Customs officials have registered a few cases, where demonetised banknotes were sent abroad by courier, and seized over Rs 1 lakh in such notes, a senior official said today.

People were found trying to send the old notes abroad by falsely declaring them as articles such as books, he said.

"The aim could be to take help of their relatives or friends abroad to get the old notes exchanged with the new ones," the official said.

In two cases, couriers were booked from Punjab for Australia and the content inside them were declared as book.

The customs official, who are keeping an eye on outbound parcels at foreign post office here, found them having demonetised notes.

Similar consignments were booked for Korea and the United Arab Emirates containing the defunct notes. "In all, over Rs 1 lakh in old currency notes were seized from these couriers," he said.

Such cases have also been registered at foreign post offices located across the country, the official said.

After scrapping Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 8, the government had permitted people to deposit them in banks up to December 30, 2016.

The RBI has allowed Indian citizens, who were abroad during November-December 2016, to exchange the scrapped notes up to March 31 and NRIs up to June 30.

This facility is available at RBI offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Nagpur only.

NRIs coming to India are required to come through Red Channel disclosing to the Customs authorities at the airport the amount of the demonetised notes and secure a certificate to be tendered at the RBI at the time of exchange.

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Over 58 lakh names dropped from draft voter list in Bengal ahead of polls

News Network

December 16,2025

The deletion of over 58 lakh names from West Bengal’s draft electoral rolls following a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has sparked widespread concern and is likely to deepen political tensions in the poll-bound state.

According to the Election Commission, the revision exercise has identified 24 lakh voters as deceased, 19 lakh as relocated, 12 lakh as missing, and 1.3 lakh as duplicate entries. The draft list, published after the completion of the first phase of SIR, aims to remove errors and duplication from the electoral rolls.

However, the scale of deletions has raised fears that a large number of eligible voters may have been wrongly excluded. The Election Commission has said that individuals whose names are missing can file objections and seek corrections. The final voter list is scheduled to be published in February next year, after which the Assembly election announcement is expected. Notably, the last Special Intensive Revision in Bengal was conducted in 2002.

The development has intensified the political row over the SIR process. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress have strongly opposed the exercise, accusing the Centre and the Election Commission of attempting to disenfranchise lakhs of voters ahead of the elections.

Addressing a rally in Krishnanagar earlier this month, Banerjee urged people to protest if their names were removed from the voter list, alleging intimidation during elections and warning of serious consequences if voting rights were taken away.

The BJP, meanwhile, has defended the revision and accused the Trinamool Congress of politicising the issue to protect what it claims is an illegal voter base. Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari alleged that the ruling party fears losing power due to the removal of deceased, fake, and illegal voters.

The controversy comes amid earlier allegations by the Trinamool Congress that excessive work pressure during the SIR led to the deaths by suicide of some Booth Level Officers (BLOs), for which the party blamed the Election Commission. With the draft list now out, another round of political confrontation appears imminent.

As objections begin to be filed, the focus will be on whether the correction mechanism is accessible, transparent, and timely—critical factors in ensuring that no eligible voter is denied their democratic right ahead of a crucial election.

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