Fraud in Pune- Fake currency of Rs 87 crore ‘value’ seized; Soldier among 6 arrested

Pune, June 11: The city of Pune on Wednesday witnessed antiquated yet outrageous monetary scandal. The Crime Branch of Pune City Police unveiled a fake Indian and foreign currency notes fraud of Rs 87 crore seizing play currency notes marked ‘Children’s Bank of India’. A joint operation of the Military Intelligence and Pune City police have arrested serving Army jawan along with five civilians in connection with the case.

 

 

The stash was found in a bungalow in Viman Nagar in an action conducted on Wednesday afternoon that started with a decoy team being sent to the racketeers. Primary probe has revealed that the suspects were part of a racket of exchanging fake notes for genuine ones during currency exchange transactions. The police believes that the modus operandi of the suspects was to accept genuine notes and, in return, give stacks of notes, some of them genuine, some good-quality fake currency and some play notes.

 

The joint operation was conducted by the Southern Command Liaison Unit (SCLU) of Military Intelligence (MI) and teams from the Crime Branch of Pune City Police. Police initially detained six persons, who were later put under arrest and a search was launched for their possible contacts. The suspects have been identified as Shaikh Alim Gulab Khan, an Army soldier of Lance Naik rank attached to an Army unit in Pune, and his accomplices Sunil Sarda, Ritesh Ratnaakar, Tuhaul Ahmed Ishaq Khan, Abdul Gani Khan and Abdul Rehman.

 

“The Army jawan, who has been posted in Pune for the last eight years, seems to be the key suspect of the racket as per our information till now. One more person is from Pune and four others are from Mumbai. We are probing if they had more accomplices and are also probing some leads on the fake currency and how it was procured", the police said in the official statement.

 

Meanwhile an official statement from the Army said, “The Southern Command Intelligence wing, along with Crime Branch Pune, carried out a successful joint operation in Viman Nagar and busted a fake currency racket. Six people, including five civilians and a soldier, were apprehended with fake Indian and foreign currency". "Considering the amount of fake notes seized, though a large chunk of them are play notes, the probe would need involvement of various agencies", it added.