Dungarpur. Dungarpur Police has busted a gang involved in printing and supplying fake Indian currency and arrested six accused including the mastermind.
Under Operation Notflix, police caught absconding gang leader Ravi Kumar Mishra from Ludhiana railway station in Punjab.
Despite his constantly changing location, the police team chased him for about 1,300 kilometers for three days and arrested him. In this case, two accused from Dungarpur have already been caught with fake notes worth Rs 4 lakh 95 thousand 500.
District Superintendent of Police Manish Kumar said that on September 30, Bhavesh Khatik and Nayan Joshi were arrested from Mada School Ground of Ramsagada police station area.
991 fake notes of Rs 500 were recovered from his possession. Preliminary investigation revealed that both the accused were in contact with Uttar Pradesh resident Ravi Kumar Mishra through social media.
After getting wind of the police action, Ravi absconded from Dungarpur and started changing locations continuously.
After this, the District Cyber Cell and Special Police Team started searching for him on the basis of technical evidence and finally arrested him from Ludhiana Railway Station.
Based on the interrogation of Ravi Mishra and technical research of the cyber cell, the police sent teams to different states in search of other members of the gang.
During the operation, Anand Rajput from Ambala, Haryana, Mohammad Arif from Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh and Tarun Malekar from Chhattisgarh were arrested.
According to the police, Anand Rajput had given information to Ravi regarding the process of collecting and printing paper required for making fake notes.
Arif used to run a channel on Telegram with the name ‘Ankit Paper Seller’ and claimed to provide paper used in making fake notes. At the same time, Tarun Malekar had allegedly sent PSD files of Rs 500 notes.
The police unearthed the gang’s network by doing technical analysis of the social media accounts and mobile phones of the accused. Investigation revealed that materials and digital files related to making fake notes were exchanged through contact through social media. Police are now searching for other contacts of the gang and people involved in the supply of fake notes.
SP told that Ravi Mishra had come to Dungarpur on 13th August. Here, by taking a rented house in Vasundhara Vihar area, he along with other accused started the work of printing fake notes.
Printers and other equipment were used for this. There was a plan to prepare fake notes worth about five lakh rupees and circulate them in the market. Meanwhile, Bhavesh Khatik and Nayan Joshi were caught by the police and the gang was exposed.
During the operation, apart from fake notes, the police have seized note counting machine, printer, lamination machine, laptop, nine mobile phones, paper used in printing fake notes and the material left after printing.
Police interrogation revealed that Anand Rajput, one of the main accused in the gang, had the idea of making fake Indian currency after watching the web series ‘Farzie’.
He made efforts to create copies of the notes with the help of YouTube and Photoshop. When initial attempts were not successful, he contacted Ravi Mishra.
The investigation also revealed that an attempt was made to procure material through Chinese online company Alibaba to procure special paper for making fake notes.
Under the direction of Superintendent of Police Manish Kumar, District Cyber Cell, Ramsagada police station and special teams took action in different states and exposed the gang.
SP said that the investigation into the entire network of preparation of fake Indian currency, its transportation and supply in the market is going on. Further action will be taken if the involvement of other people comes to light.