Two arrested near Eden Gardens with fake notes worth Rs 5 lakh
Kolkata: The Special Task Force (STF) of Kolkata Police has nabbed two fake currency note racketeers from near Eden Gardens on Sunday afternoon. The duo was carrying FICN worth Rs 5 lakh.
Last month, STF officers had nabbed several persons and seized fake notes worth more than Rs 50 lakh.
On Sunday, the officers of the Special Task Force got a tip-off that two persons have arrived in the city to circulate fake notes through illegal transactions.
Working on the information, the officers came to know that one of them will hand over the fake notes to a person near Eden Gardens.
The officers had had kept an eye in the area. Around 4:25 pm they noticed two persons were interacting with each other at the crossing of Gostho Pal Sarani and Leslie Claudius Sarani. Finding their behaviour and gestures suspicious, the officers started keeping an eye on them. After a few minutes, both the persons exchanged a bag and the officers, who were ready to catch them, immediately arrested them and seized the bag.
They were detained and the bag was checked. The officers found 250 fake notes of Rs 2,000 denomination. The duo was arrested and brought to the STF police station at Lalbazar.
Later, the duo was identified as Sanju Saha of Baishnabnagar in Malda and Md. Umar of Purnia in Bihar. Saha had come to Kolkata to hand over the fake notes to Umar which he had to circulate in Bihar. Both of them have been booked under IPC sections 489B (using as genuine, forged or counterfeit currency-notes or bank-notes), 489C (possession of forged or counterfeit currency-notes or bank-notes) and 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy).
According to a source, as the Lok Sabha elections 2019 is getting closer, criminals are trying to circulate fake currency notes across the state, particularly in Kolkata.
They are using Kolkata as a transit route to circulate such notes in other states. Police officers are worried over the increasing number of arrests in connection with fake currency notes. They have stepped up vigil across the city to check activities of such racketeers.
