Three arrested with counterfeit notes

Three members of a gang were arrested at Malviya Nagar in south Delhi for alleged involvement in an organised circulation of fake Indian currency notes, police said on Saturday.

Fake notes with face value of Rs 80,500 —  in the denomination of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 — have been recovered from the possession of Bittoo Kumar, 22, Rajiq, 29, and Virender, 25.

“The action was taken over an information that a gang had been supplying fake notes to people in Delhi and NCR region for a long time,” a senior police official said.

“We were also told that its members would come near G M Modi Hospital on Thursday to deliver a huge consignment.”

A trap was laid on Press Enclave Road and at 6:45 pm, all the accused were apprehended at the instance of an informer.

On interrogation, they revealed that Bittoo, who hails from Bihar’s Samastipur district, is gang’s mastermind.

They used to take Rs 5,000 for fake notes with face value of Rs 8,000.

“The notes were being smuggled to Delhi from Bihar’s east Champaran district. It is suspected that the notes were pumped into Bihar through Nepal,” the official added.

The notes are of fine quality and the standard security features like watermark, security thread and paper quality used in them make it difficult to detect them with naked eye.

A case under sections 489B (using as genuine, forged or counterfeit currency), 489C (possession of forged or counterfeit currency) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) was registered against the accused persons with Crime Branch police station.

Several police teams are conducting raids in various parts of the Capital to unearth the entire racket.