Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday claimed that Rs 2,000 notes were missing from the market and there was a “conspiracy” behind it, PTI reported.

“Currency worth Rs 15,00,000 crore was in circulation before demonetisation,” Chouhan said at a farmers’ meeting in Shajapur. “After this exercise [demonetisation], the currency in circulation increased to Rs 16,50,000 crore. But notes of Rs 2,000 are missing from the market.”

Madhya Pradesh is one of the states where a cash crunch in ATMs has been reported in recent days. The Finance Ministry held a meeting with the Reserve Bank of India, banks and state government officials on April 11 to take stock of the situation, Business Standard had reported.

“Where are these notes of Rs 2,000 going?” Chouhan said. “Who is keeping them out of circulation? Who are the persons creating shortfall of cash? This is a conspiracy to create problems. The government will act tough on this.”

He said he had taken up the matter with the Centre.