Hyderabad: Future City Police have busted a counterfeit currency racket with the arrest of four persons and seizure of fake Rs.500 notes worth Rs.6.78 crore, along with printing equipment and other material, on the outskirts of Hyderabad.
Personnel from Abdullapurmet Police Station and the Shadnagar Special Operations Team (SOT) intercepted a car near Ramoji Film City on NH-65 on November 1 and seized counterfeit notes worth Rs.8 lakh. Four occupants of the vehicle were arrested.
The accused were identified as M. Karunakar, Ch. Manikya Reddy, Ch. Ratnakar Reddy and K. Ajay Kumar. Future City Police Commissioner Tarun Joshi said interrogation revealed that the gang was operating a counterfeit currency printing unit from a rented house in Kuntloor.
A subsequent raid at the premises led to the seizure of fake notes worth Rs.6.78 crore, printers, a laptop, currency-cutting machines and other equipment.
Police said the gang also resorted to extortion by posing as police personnel. The accused allegedly used fake police identity cards, walkie-talkies, dummy pistols and vehicles with fake number plates to intimidate prospective buyers of counterfeit currency and rob them of their genuine cash.
The gang allegedly promised customers three to four times the value of their genuine money in counterfeit notes. When buyers arrived with cash, other members posing as police officers would threaten them with legal action and take away their money. The accused reportedly extorted Rs.2 lakh and Rs.3 lakh from two prospective customers on separate occasions.
According to police, Karunakar learnt to scan genuine Rs.500 notes, edit their images using Photoshop and print counterfeit versions by watching YouTube videos and other social media content.
The four arrested accused were produced before a court and remanded to judicial custody. Three other accused — Jelli Venkatesh, Kunja Balaraju and Kampasati Srinivas — are absconding. Further investigation is underway to identify others involved in the racket.
