Rajkot, August 04: The Jamnagar police have concluded that the counterfeit currency racket busted by them two days ago has its roots in Pakistan. In a first for Saurashtra, the police are reading an international and a possible terror angle in the racket.
While three migrants have been arrested, the police say that the fake Indian currency notes were printed in Pakistan and smuggled into India via Nepal.
Jamnagar being a petrochemical hub of the country absorbing a large number of labour, it has become a safe haven for migrants who introduce fake notes into circulation. The police have also concluded after preliminary investigation that it is possible that such attempts were made in the past.
The Local Crime Branch (LCB) that is investigating the case has been granted 10-day remand custody of the trio starting Monday. Even as the police are trying to trace the roots of this racket, a Jamnagar police team will leave for Bihar for further investigation shortly.
The LCB, on a tip off, arrested Manoj Singh, Ajaykumar Yadav and Anand Kumar from Shanker Tekri area last Saturday.
Fake currency notes of Rs 500 denomination and to the face value of Rs 1.26 lakh were found from their possession. All three hail from Bihar.
“While there has been no visible connection between this case and the racket busted by ATS on Friday, but the origin is the same. The notes seized by the LCB have been printed in Pakistan,” said Inspector R B Nimavat of LCB.
He added that so far, similar rackets busted in Amreli and Bhavnagar districts had their origins in smaller towns like Botad, Savarkundla, Chotila and sometimes in Ahmedabad city; but it is for the first time that a racket in Saurashtra has a Pakistan connection.
The LCB observers said that in both the cases, the modus operandi of the accused is different. When it’s printed locally, it is purely an economic crime, but in case like this, it is an attempt to harm the economy of a nation.
With the world’s fourth largest grassroots-level refinery of Reliance Industries Limited at Moti Khavdi and Essar Petroleum’s refinery at Vadinar, Jamnagar absorbs migrant labourers in very large numbers.
“For the same reason, the district has become a safe haven for migrants, who come and circulate fake currency here,” said Nimavat.
Demand draft forgery: police say instrument a copy of original
While investigating the recent case where a bank draft of Rs 182 was forged into Rs 18 crore, the police have discovered that the draft was actually a copy of the original.
The branch managers and other bankers present in the city on Monday revealed that the fraudsters had either made a coloured copy or scanned the original draft and printed it with the changed amount.
Explaining how the fabrication took place, Dena Bank Branch Manager R S Singh, told Newsline: “The original draft of Dena Bank’s Bhandup Branch was never used. The fraudsters had made a copy of the original and had changed the denomination of the draft.
–Agencies