VISAKHAPATNAM: Three members of a gang were arrested by the police on Thursday on charges of circulating counterfeit currency notes in Visakhapatnam.
Fake notes in denominations of Rs 2,000, Rs 500 and Rs 100 with a face value of Rs 7.32 lakh were seized from them. Police have also confirmed that fake currency notes of around Rs 1.7 lakh have already been circulated at Rythu Bazaars and several shops in the city.
The accused have been identified as B Appalanaidu (46), a resident of Gajuwaka, K Ganga Maheswara Rao (47) from Pithapuram and Ch Srinivas (40) of Rajamahendravaram.
“They (the accused) printed the fake currency notes using a colour photocopying machine in Rajamahendravaram and started to circulate those in Visakhapatnam a month ago,” joint commissioner of police AS Khan said, while presenting the accused and the seized currency notes here.
According to police, the gang have printed fake currency notes worth Rs 9 lakh in denominations of Rs 2,000, Rs 500 and Rs 100, of which they managed to circulate around Rs 1.7 lakh in the city.
Srinivas, among the accused, was jailed in a murder case at Rajanagaram, where he met K Ganga Maheswara Rao who was serving terms after getting caught in the fake currency racket busted in West Godavari district. To make up for their losses, the duo decided to team up and resorted to printing of counterfeit currency again, the JCP said. Appalanaidu, a friend of Ganga Maheswara Rao, joined them later.
Acting on a tip-off, the police raided several places at Rajamahendravaram and Gajuwaka, and seized the counterfeit notes.
More gangs involved?
The three-member gang is suspected to have connections with a few more gangs functioning from Pithapuram and Rajamhendravaram. The gang also allegedly exchanged fake notes with the original ones on commission.