New Delhi, May 12 The Special Cell of Delhi Police has busted a fake Indian currency note (FICN) unit in Ghaziabad's Loni area and arrested a person in this connection, an official said on Friday.
The arrested individual has been identified as Prashant a.k.a. Virat, who hails from Perumbathur near Thrissur in Tamil Nadu.
Rs 6 lakh (fake currency notes) and several materials including a watermark impression machine, ink and a printer valued at around Rs 5 crore have been recovered by the police.
Prashant used to work as a car AC repair mechanic in 2013 in Delhi.
In 2018, he started printing counterfeit currency by using a coloured photocopy machine in order to earn quick money.
Prashant was also found previously involved in two cases of FICN registered in Ghaziabad and Meerut in Uttar Pradesh.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Rajiv Ranjan Singh said that an information was received through reliable sources that a person was involved in the printing and circulation of fake currency in Delhi and its peripherals.
Soon, it emerged that this racket is being operated by one Prashant, a resident of Loni. It was learned that this person has set up a factory to print the currency at large scale.
"On May 8, a specific input was received that a delivery of FICN would take place on Ring Road, Opposite Indraprastha Park in Delhi, following which a trap was laid and Prashant was apprehended. On search, Rs 2 lakh FICN in the denomination of Rs 500 and Rs 200 was recovered from his possession," said Singh.
Prashant revealed that he had come to deliver fake notes in exchange for genuine Indian currency at the rate of Rs 30 per Rs 100 fake notes.
"Further, at his instance, a raid was conducted at his rented accommodation at Loni and a setup to print FICN was busted over there," the police officer said, adding that in total, FICN equivalent to Rs 6,71,500 in denomination of Rs 2,000, 500 and 200 has also been recovered from his possession.
The DCP said that in 2015, Prashant was caught with a stolen bike and sent to jail.
"During his stay in jail, he met one Amit who would print fake currency notes and he learnt the process of printing FICN from him," he said.
"After coming out of jail, he started printing FICN by using coloured photocopy machine. In 2018, he was using fake notes in a market in Kavi Nagar area of Ghaziabad and was caught by police. Around Rs 2.5 lakh (fake notes) was recovered from his house at that time," said the official.
In early 2020, after coming out of jail, Prashant again started printing fake Indian notes.
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