The police caught three men, including a BMTC bus conductor and a driver, as they tried to sell counterfeit currency notes they had printed in an attempt to get rich overnight.
The police arrested the counterfeiters — Somanna Gowda (38), conductor-cum-driver; Nanjegowda alias Swamy (32), a driver attached to the BMTC depot at Jayanagar; and Kiran Kumar (24), a photographer and a native of Channarayapatna — at Kogilu Cross near Yelahanka.
They seized fake currency notes valued at Rs 81.30 lakh from the accused and got them remanded to judicial custody. The police are searching for the kingpin of the operations, Ramakrishna. The police said Gowda, a native of Lakkihala village in Raichur district, got in touch with the counterfeiter Ramakrishna through a friend. Ramakrishna lured many with the offer to double their money in a month and exchanged genuine currency with the counterfeit ones.
Gowda got Rs 2 lakh in a month after giving Rs 1 lakh. Eager to get rich quickly, he sold his land for Rs 7.5 lakh and gave the money to Ramakrishna. When he did not receive the money from the counterfeiter even after six months, Gowda threatened to commit suicide and leave a death note bearing Ramakrishna’s name. Ramakrishna then taught him how to make fake currency.
Gowda rented a house in Garvebhavipalya, bought computers and colour printers to set up his business. Realising that he cannot do it alone, he brought in his colleague Nanjegowda, who in turn lured his friend Kumar from his native village in Hassan to work on software like Photoshop.
The three continued with their day jobs and set about printing counterfeit notes in the night. As nearly Rs 81.3 lakh fake notes had piled up by then, they reported the progress to Ramakrishna, who asked them to bring Rs 50 lakh in exchange for Rs 25 lakh genuine currency. Ramakrishna asked them to hand over the currency to his receiver near Kogilu Cross on April 26.
Meanwhile, following a tip-off, a team headed by inspector M B Ramakrishna Reddy surrounded the trio in mufti and arrested them. They also seized the fake currency. Responding to the news of the arrest, the BMTC said the two employees have been suspended pending an inquiry.
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