Vizag police bust fake currency racket, arrest three, and seizes notes worth Rs 3 lakh

Visakhapatnam: Visakhapatnam police busted a fake currency circulating gang, arresting three and seizing fake currency notes worth Rs 2.96 lakh in the city on Sunday. The officials charged three people for carrying and distributing fake currency notes. The police also seized Rs 7,000-worth genuine currency and three mobile phones from the gang.

The police have identified the arrested persons as Kadavala Naga Venkata Satya Narayana (49) and Rowthu Jaya Ram (30), both Vizag residents. The third is Bontha Padma Rao (42) of Vizianagaram Town. The police have formed a special team to seize two prime accused in connections with the case. They are Shaik Abdul Rehman of Chodavaram in Visakhapatnam and Sayyed Mujibur Rehman of East Godavari.

Giving details of the case, Vizag Police Commissioner of police RK Meena said that Satya Narayana and Padma Rao are real-estate businessmen and Jaya Rao is the former’s driver. The trio procured Fake Indian Currency Note (FICN) worth around Rs 3 lakh (Rs 2,000 and Rs 100 denominations) from Abdul Rehman and Mujibur Rehman. The trio paid the duo Rs 1.17 lakh in genuine currency to circulate the fake notes in the Visakhapatnam region.

The trio had exchanged two Rs 2,000 fake notes at Chodavaram in Vizag district, and they planned to exchange the remaining fake notes in Vizag city.

MVP Colony police had received a tip stating that some people are carrying fake notes and are trying to exchange them at HB Colony in Visakhapatnam. Led by circle inspector Ch Shanmukha Rao, a police team carried out a surprise raid on Sunday at HB Colony. The police recovered Rs 2,000 and Rs 100 fake currency notes worth Rs 2.96 lakh from the trio. “During the interrogation, the trio revealed that they had obtained the FICN from Abdul Rehman and Mujibur Rehman,” RK Meena told reporters.

Since the arrested people failed to provide any detailed information on the kingpin in the trade, the police suspect that a Pakistani or Bangladeshi group is pumping fake currency into the city. The police also believe that Abdul Rehman and Mujibur Rehman obtained the fake currency notes from Malda in West Bengal.

The police are planning to handover the case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for further investigation to ascertain links with Pakistani perpetrators.