Kingpin of fake coin racket hel

The kingpin of a gang involved in minting of counterfeit coins has been arrested, police said on Thursday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said Upkar Luthra, 50, was arrested from a hotel in Haryana's Kondli on Tuesday on a tip-off. Counterfeit coins of Rs 5 with face value of Rs 8,500 were seized from his possession.

Luthra, who hails from Punjab and has a reward of Rs 1,00,000 on his head, has confessed to his crime during interrogation, police said.

Yadav said that Luthra was wanted in several criminal cases, including murder.

He was earlier arrested in 1999 for counterfeiting coins and after his release started a unit for minting counterfeit coins in Delhi's Anand Vihar, police said.

Around 2008, Luthra fled to Nepal and started managing the trade from there while his brother Sweekar managed operations in India, police said.

In October 2016, police busted a gang involved in minting and circulating counterfeit coins in Delhi and found it was being run by Luthra and his brother.

In December, police arrested Sweekar and recovered counterfeit coins with face value of Rs 17,390 from his possession.

The gang first carved out shape of coins from metallic sheets in lathe machines and then prepared coins using heating and hydraulic machines.

They also sprayed an anti-rust liquid on the coins to give a finishing touch before they were supplied to toll centres, weekly markets and small shopkeepers in various parts of Delhi, Rajasthan and Haryana.

--IANS

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