They made money at the press of a button

The father-son duo used a photocopier to make fake notes

An ingenious father and son duo from the City used a colour photocopier machine to create fake currency notes with a face value of around Rs 40 lakh over the past three years. They finally fell into the police net on Friday.

Following a raid, Rajanna (37) and his son Sharat (19) were arrested at their house in Sriramapura village by the Amruthahalli police. A colour photocopier, cartridges, fake notes with a face value of Rs 1.38 lakh, printer ink of various colours were confiscated during the raid. They had been arrested in connection with circulation of fake notes on two earlier occasions by High Grounds police and Gauribidanur police.

Addressing the media after the arrests, Bangalore City Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari said he was struck by the simplicity of the whole exercise and would bring it to the notice of the Reserve Bank of India.

The Commissioner added that the entire family including Rajanna’s wife were involved in the racket.

Currency denominations ranging from Rs 50 to Rs 1,000 were photocopied with consummate ease and circulated mainly in rural pockets. The accused also gave a live demonstration of the simple copying procedure during the press conference.