Soiled currency notes that were found in Kalighat two days ago had been discarded by a temple in Bhowanipore and accidentally reached Kalighat with discarded flowers, police said on Tuesday.

A gunny bag stuffed with soiled notes was spotted on Mukherjee Ghat in Kalighat last Sunday when it suddenly caught fire.

Police tracked down a rickshaw puller by analysing CCTV footage and found that the man had brought the gunny bag from a temple a few kilometres away in Bhowanipore.

“The temple discards flowers offered by devotees twice daily. On Sunday, the rickshaw-puller had mistaken the bag of soiled notes with that of flowers and had taken it for dumping at the ghat,” said an officer of Kalighat police station.

The police contacted the temple authorities and found that water had seeped inside one of the donation boxes during Cyclone Amphan.