It’s not just the common man, but government servants, too, who have been hit by the current currency crisis. Thane police officials, probing the multi-crore call centre scam, had to return from Gujarat half-way through the probe because nobody there was willing to accept the old notes. The cops were having a tough time with lodging and boarding and hence decided to return to base.

A senior official from Thane police said, “Our team had visited Ahmedabad two weeks ago as part of the investigation. But, when the currency withdrawal anno­uncement came, everybody there stop­ped accepting the old notes. It was badly impacting the investigation as without cash, travelling and daily expenses were becoming a big problem.”