Pulkit Sharma has a pile of Rs 10 coins sitting in a basket atop his fridge. The heap has been growing over the past 2-3 months since Sharma, an executive with a private firm in Bareilly, continued to accept the coins from shopkeepers and others while nobody took them back. Now, he can hope to get rid of them.

Coming down hard on those circulating rumours and messages on WhatsApp+ that the coin had been withdrawn and it was no longer legal tender, the district magistrate of Pilibhit said on Saturday that anybody refusing to accept the currency could be charged with sedition.