Delhi Police Bust Fake Currency Racket, Kingpin Among 3 Arrested

Delhi Police has busted an interstate counterfeit currency racket allegedly operating between Maharashtra and the national capital and arrested three people, including the kingpin of the network, officials said on Friday.

The police have recovered 299 fake currency notes besides unearthing a printing unit in Navi Mumbai, the officer said.

The accused have been identified as Natraj Mohan Kanchan (62), a resident of Navi Mumbai, Vinod Munnilal Jaiswar (38) of Mumbai and Subhash Chandra (55) of Delhi's Maksudpur.

The racket came to light after a shopkeeper in Bhalswa Dairy detected counterfeit currency while accepting payment from a customer, the police said.

Pankaj, who runs a general store in Bhalswa Dairy, said that on the night of June 29, a customer bought five packets of cigarettes and paid using six Rs 100 notes, they said.

"Suspecting the notes to be counterfeit due to their appearance and texture, he alerted a beat officer patrolling the area. The officer reached the spot, examined the notes and found them to be counterfeit based on their physical characteristics," the officer said.

The suspect was detained and later identified as the alleged kingpin, Kanchan. The police said 96 counterfeit Rs 100 notes were recovered from his bag during a search.

A case was registered and an investigation was launched.

"During interrogation, Kanchan allegedly disclosed that he was staying at a hotel in Paharganj. A raid at his hotel room led to the recovery of another 180 counterfeit Rs 100 notes and 13 counterfeit Rs 500 notes," the officer added.

The police said Kanchan revealed that he had supplied counterfeit currency to Delhi-based Chandra for circulation.

Chandra was arrested on June 30, and 10 counterfeit Rs 100 notes were recovered from him.

The investigation later took the police team to Navi Mumbai, where, with assistance from the Mumbai Police, a counterfeit currency printing unit was allegedly unearthed from Kanchan's residence, the officer said.

A laptop, a printer, a lamination machine, paper rolls, watermark papers and other equipment allegedly used to manufacture fake currency were recovered, the police said.

Based on technical surveillance and further investigation, the police arrested Jaiswar from Navi Mumbai Railway Station on July 13.

"Investigators described Jaiswar as the technical mastermind of the syndicate who allegedly designed counterfeit currency templates using computer software and facilitated their printing," the officer added.

In total, the police recovered 286 counterfeit Rs 100 notes, 13 counterfeit Rs 500 notes and six sample counterfeit Rs 500 notes. Further investigation is underway.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)