Man arrested for possessing fake currency notes worth Rs 2 L

A 24-year-old man has been arrested for possessing fake Indian currency notes (FICN) worth Rs 2 lakh, police said on Tuesday.

The accused -- Vishnu Mandal, a resident of Malda in West Bengal is suspected to be the kingpin of an international cartel of FICN syndicate. He was carrying a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh on his head from Delhi Police, they said.

Fine quality FICN amounting to Rs 2 lakh, all in the denomination of Rs 2,000 was recovered from him, police said.

Two other members of the cartel - Gautam Mandal and Shiksha - who were arrested in July this year had disclosed about the involvement of Vishnu Mandal in the case, they added.

"Vishnu Mandal was arrested on Monday after we received information that he would come beneath Wazirabad flyover, Outer Ring Road, Delhi to deliver a big consignment of FICN to one of his contact," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said.

During interrogation, the accused disclosed that he used to procure FICN from a resident of Malda and further supply it to various people in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi, including Shiksha, who was earlier arrested in this case, he said.

He admitted to have supplied FICN of Rs 4 lakh to Gautam Mandal in July. He used to further supply those FICN to his parties for some profit. He has already delivered a huge number of FICN consignments amounting to more than Rs 70-80 lakh in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, he added.

Vishnu Mandal disclosed that he has been involved in the FICN supplying cartel for last six years and that the recovered currency notes are of very fine quality, the DCP said.

Interrogation revealed that the fake currency notes are being pushed into India through the Indo-Bangla Border. The supply is brought to Kaliachak area of Malda, from where it is circulated to different FICN rackets in various states, he said.

He further disclosed that fake currency is easily put in circulation in the rural areas due to simplicity and ignorance of the people. He used to caution all his customers to not to deposit the FICN in banks as bank officials can easily differentiate between fake and genuine notes, he added.

Investigation is also being conducted whether the money derived from FICN is being diverted to promote terror activities in the country, police said.