MUMBAI, November 28: Three police constables and four others were caught by the Sahar police for dealing in fake currency notes this morning.Said the Sahar police, the gang was nabbed at around 12.30 am when they tried to sneak past a nakabandi at the BSES Junction on Sahar Road. The fake notes, in a denomination of Rs 100 denomination, were concealed in a biscuit carton. The policemen have been identified as Subash Babu Aiwale (33), a wireless operator at Thane, Sudhakar Sadashiv Shinde (34) attached to Shanti Nagar, Bhiwandi and Vijay Raosaheb Yadav, a driver. The other accused are Ashraf Ali Mustafa Sheikh (32), Mohammed Aslam Hanif Ansari (21), Sadiq Mohammed Khan (19) and Siddique Ansari.Said assistant police inspector Dinesh Agarwal, the key accused, Ashraf Sheikh, first baited potential victims by showing some currency notes which he claimed were fake, when, in fact, they were genuine. He would then give the person between Rs 600 and Rs 800, asking him to try pushing the notes into circulation. This was done to develop a rapport with the victim, said Agarwal.``Since the notes given to try out were genuine, the victim usually did not face a problem using the currency. Sheikh would then tell the victim he was willing to exchange fake notes of Rs 1 lakh for only Rs 50,000 genuine ones,'' said Agarwal. ``Victims often fell prey to this ploy.'' However, at the time of exchange, the three policemen would appear on the scene and seize both the genuine money and fake currency.This morning, although the gang was successful in baiting a Santacruz resident into exchanging Rs 50,000 for fake notes of Rs 1 lakh, the victim did not show up. As they were returning to Bhiwandi, from where they operated, they were cornered by the police. They could not explain what they were doing with Rs 1 lakh at that odd hour, and a search revealed that the notes were fake.The accused have been remanded to police custody till December 4.
