3 in net with Rs 4.5 lakh in fake notes

According to Crime Branch sleuths,the lot seized from the accused appear to have been printed in an actual currency printing press.

“The first arrest in the case was of a former primary school teacher,Anilkumar Sikander Singh (30). Acting on a tip-off on August 6,Unit 12 officials had nabbed Singh outside Hotel Sanjog in Borivali and recovered 15 fake Indian currency notes of Rs 500,” said Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime),Himanshu Roy.

“During Singh’s interrogation,we learnt that two of his accomplices were slated to arrive in the city. On Tuesday,after laying a trap,we nabbed Rakesh alias Roshankumar Chabichand Prakash Saha (35) who hails from Khagariya,Bihar and Vishnu Sachin Saha (41),a resident of Anantpur,in Malda district of West Bengal. Fake notes worth Rs 4.5 lakh were recovered from them.”

“The notes look and feel like original primarily because of their quality of paper and the print. “While most locally printed notes compromise on paper quality,are photocopies bearing the same serial number and are unable to fake the watermark successfully,these notes are made from paper which is almost the same as the one used by the Reserve Bank of India. These fake notes which were printed abroad have been printed by a professional as the Gandhi watermark,the intaglio print and the optical print as well as the security thread are almost identical to original currency notes,” said Roy. However,what gave away the fraud was the absence of a green ribbon with RBI written on it. Roy said they will be sending the notes to the RBI and forensic lab for consultation.

“Rakesh,during interrogation,revealed that he would procure fake notes in the denomination of 500 and 1000,from Daku Mama Manerul Islam Lootu Sheikh in West Bengal. Daku Mama would sell the notes in a 100:35 ratio; Rs 35 per fake note. With the help of Singh and Vishnu,Rakesh would then circulate the notes among traders”.

“Malda from where Rakesh hails is close to Bangladesh border. We will investigate if the notes have been smuggled and whether the accused are part of any terror group.” While Rakesh has cases under Arms Act and a murder case registered in Delhi and Bihar against him,Vishnu has an assault case against him in Gopalganj,West Bengal.