New Rs2,000 note gets its fake avatar within days

Within days of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) putting the new Rs2,000 notes into circulation the police in Hyderabad have arrested a six-member gang and seized Rs2.2 lakh in fake currency of various denominations, including Rs2,000 notes.

Sleuths of the Special Operation Team in Rachakonda arrested a six-member gang and seized fake Indian currency worth Rs2,22,310 in the denomination of Rs2,000 (105), Rs100 (102), Rs50 (105), Rs20 (117) and Rs10 (102), two colour xerox machines and Rs50,000 in cash from their possession.

The arrests were made on receipt of credible information, police said, adding that the arrested included Jamalapur Sainath of Ibrahimpatnam, Gotte Anjaiah of Venkatapur village in Sirisilla district, Sakethwala Ramesh of Ibrahimpatnam, Chikoti Satyanarayana of Peddur village in Sirisilla district, Kandikanti Sridhar Goud of Hayathnagar, Avadutha Vijay Kumar of Bharath Nagar in Siddipet district.
 
Two others - Kalyan of Siricilla and Srikanth of Nizamabad - are absconding, reports quoting police sources said.

Initially, they printed fewer notes of small denomination and were successful in circulating them in the market, the police said.

With the demonetisation of the Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes, the accused persons decided to print fake currency of small denomination and circulate in the market. After the release of the new Rs2,000 note, they successfully printed it and were waiting for an opportunity to circulate in the market. In the meantime, the police raided Ramesh's house at Ibrahimpatnam and arrested them, police added.

"With the demonetisation of the Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes, the accused persons decided to print FICN of small denomination and circulate in the market. After the release of the new Rs 2,000 note, they successfully printed it and were waiting for an opportunity to circulate in the market," Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh M Bhagwat said.

"They were discussing plans of circulating the fake notes in the market, when Rachakonda Police received credible information about their plans and raided the Ramesh's house at Ibrahimpatnam and took the accused persons into custody," he said.

Police seized original notes to the extent of Rs50,000 besides two photocopy machines, and fake notes in denomination of Rs2,000 (105 notes), Rs100 (102 notes), Rs50 (105 notes), Rs20 (117 notes) and Rs10 (102 notes) all with a face value of Rs2,22,310.