Representative image of a police van
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Bengaluru: The Bengaluru police have busted a counterfeit currency racket and arrested five people, including three from Kerala.
The operation was uncovered when the Halasuru Gate police began investigating a case involving a granite dealer named Abdul Hussain, who attempted to exchange counterfeit currency.
On September 9, Hussain approached Bengaluru’s Reserve Bank of India (RBI) office, seeking to exchange Rs 24.8 lakh in Rs 2,000 denomination notes.
The bank’s assistant general manager noticed the counterfeit nature of the notes, detained Hussain, and subsequently handed him over to the police.
During interrogation, Hussain revealed that a man from Kannur, identified as Prasidh, had supplied him with the counterfeit currency.
According to an investigator, “Prasidh had bought granite worth Rs 40 lakh from Hussain and paid Rs 24.8 lakh in counterfeit Rs 2,000 notes, instructing him to exchange it at the RBI.”
Police arrested Prasidh in Kannur, finding connections to two additional agents, Mohammad Afnas and Nooruddin Anwar, from Kannur and Kasargod, respectively. Further investigation revealed that these two were merely intermediaries, while the operation's mastermind was Prayas from Kasargod.
Tracing Prayas led the police to discover that he had already been arrested by the Mangaluru police’s Central Crime Branch (CCB) in a similar counterfeit currency case.
Additional investigation into Prayas’ background exposed an accomplice, Sharath, who operated a printing press in Kerala where the counterfeit notes were produced. Sharath is currently at large.
Police sources said Sharath and Prayas circulated messages on WhatsApp, offering Rs 2,000 denomination notes without revealing they were counterfeit. Afnas and Nooruddin, believing the notes to be genuine, brought customers to Sharath and Prayas. Police are now tracing Sharath to locate the printing press.
An FIR has been registered at the Halasuru Gate police station under sections 179 (using as genuine, forged or counterfeit coin, government stamp, currency notes, or banknotes) and 180 (possession of forged or counterfeit coin, government stamp, currency notes, or banknotes) of the BNS Act.