After patiently waiting in the queue at ATM for dozen hours, let’s just assume that you got your money, let’s even assume that the ATM is not ‘out of cash’. Can you imagine an Indian currency note without the picture of Mahatma Gandhi on it?

Till now our assumptions sound good. Now how does it feel when you check the money you withdrew and all of sudden discover that there is no Gandhi on your notes. Yes! there is no Mahatma Gandhi.

This exactly happened to two farmers in Madhya Pradesh. Can you imagine an Indian currency note without the picture of Mahatma Gandhi on it? Mahatma Gandhi’s image on both sides of the notes’ itself displays the identity and grace of our country.

Since the announcement of demonetization, the new notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 are however quite different in quality and size. It is reported that a Public sector bank, the State Bank of India issued Rs 2000 currency notes to the farmers of a small village in Madhya Pradesh without Gandhi’s portrait on it.

Although various cases of misprints and sometimes no print were registered, but in this case, everything is fine with the notes except the absence of Mahatma Gandhi which is far more vital.

Meanwhile, the bank has claimed that the notes are “genuine” and it was only a “printing error”. Some of the farmers who received such notes did not take note of something missing on it but were only notified by the market vendors.

Soon after identifying the issues, the farmers approached the bank for authenticity. And the bank officials apparently did accept the notes back but did not hand over any new note in return.

When asked about the misprint, Laxman Meena, a farmer from Bichugaanvdi village told “I withdrew Rs 6,000. The cashier gave me three notes of Rs 2,000. When I reached home, my son told me that Gandhiji’s picture was missing in the banknote. My son told me it was fake.”

Akash Shrivastava, district manager of SBI Sheopur said: “The incident took place at Shivpuri Road branch of SBI. The notes were not counterfeit, but probably there was some printing error. They were taken back as it (the error) was detected.”

And SBI officer RK Jain said: “It is not fake currency, it is a misprint. We have sent it for the probe.”

On the other part of the country, Gujarat, a paan shop owner in Bodakdev has found a fake note which had the Gandhi watermark next to the national emblem with fake currency thread.