Belagavi: Two people were arrested on Monday, December 24, on charges of printing and planning to circulate fake currency notes. The accused, from whom the police have seized fake notes with face value of more than rupees one crore are identified as Asif Shaikh, a resident of Vadgaon suburb, and Rafiq Desai resident of Sri Nagar.
Asif Shaikh, who had worked in Dubai for four years had acquired knowledge to use computers and different software printers. While Rafiq Desai is a self-styled social worker who feeds patients in the District Hospital in the morning hours.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Police Commissioner D C Rajappa said that the police received a specific tip-off that one person identified as Asif Shaikh who has printed fake currency notes had been coming towards Sri Nagar to hand it over to another person Rafiq Desai for circulation. Following the tip-off, teams under the guidance of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Seema Latkar and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Mahaning Nandgavi comprising of Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Mahanteshwar Jiddi and Assistant Commissioner of Police (Market Subdivision) Narayan Baramani were formed to lay a trap.
Police teams raided and detained both the accused, when Shaikh who had come on a scooter was handing over a bag containing fake notes to Desai. The police found fifty bundles of fake currency notes with Rs 2000 face value in the bag.
Police seized the equipment used to print fake currency from Shaikh’s residence, after Desai, during interrogation revealed that the currency notes were fake and Shaikh had printed them in his residence by using a laptop, CorelDraw software and printer.
On further investigation it is revealed that Shaikh had earlier attempted to print currency notes of Rs 50 and Rs 100 face value, but could not succeed, but the Rs 2000 face value note was near to the genuine currency note. Fake currency notes of face value Rs 1,00,81,500 were seized.
The seized notes of rupees two thousand face value have serial No 6FQ210241, and rupees five hundred face value have serial No 6BP478309.
Rajappa said that the value of fake currency is huge and so the case comes under the jurisdiction of Crime Investigation Department (CBI), to whom the case will be handed over for further investigation.
