Fake coins with face value of Rs 5 lakh seized, two held

A 58-year-old man and his nephew have been arrested here for allegedly being involved in minting of fake coins of Rs 5 and Rs 10 and circulating them in malls and big markets in Delhi, National Capital Region (NCR), Haryana and Rajasthan, police said on Monday.

Gulshan Kumar, 58, and Sachin, 35, both hailing from Haryana's Hisara, were arrested on October 7 from Shiv Vihar area in west Delhi on a tip-off as soon as they visited there to hand over a new consignment of fake coins to their contact.

A polythene bag having 20 packets of counterfeit Indian coins was recovered from the possession of the accused, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Sanjeev Yadav, adding each packet contained 100 coins having a value of Rs 20,000.

"More bags containing such fake coins (nominally) worth Rs 3.57 lakh were also recovered from their rented flat in Shiv Vihar. We also raided at their face coin minting factory in Saha Industrial Area, Ambala (Haryana) and recovered counterfeit coins (nominally) worth Rs 82,030. A poly sealer machine and a portable bag closer sewing machine were also recovered from the factory," he said.

Another hideout located in Nawalgarh in Rajasthan was also raided and counterfeit coins with face value of Rs 1.37 lakh were recovered, he said.

Kumar told his interrogators that he joined a gang of counterfeit Indian coin suppliers in 2014 after his dry cleaning shop in Hisar was gutted in fire.

"Ramesh Verma influenced Kumar into the illegal trade. He, since then, started supplying the counterfeit coins of the denomination of Rs 5 and Rs 10 on commission basis. He also introduced his nephew Sachin to Verma," the officer said.

According to the officer, Verma and his two associates Sonu and Naresh supplied counterfeit coins to the arrested accused in Delhi and they further delivered it in Hisar as well as Rajasthan.

"In the end of 2015, Verma asked Kumar to install a counterfeit coins' factory. Verma also helped Kumar in setting up the factory by supplying him raw material, machines, die and labour," the officer said.

The accused told police that they used to supply counterfeit coins mainly in Delhi, NCR, Haryana and Rajasthan.

--IANS

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