BENGALURU: A gang of five fraudsters who attempted to exchange fake Rs 2,000 notes at Reserve Bank of India’s regional office on Nrupathunga Road, were arrested by Halasuru Gate police.
Of the five accused, four are from Kerala and one is from Ballari. The group had allegedly been printing fake currency in Kasaragod in Kerala.
A Central division police team travelled to Kasaragod, where it arrested four of the accused and seized a currency printing machine, Rs 29 lakh worth counterfeit currencies and currency papers. In total, police recovered Rs 54 lakh in counterfeit currencies.
The gang’s modus operandi was to exchange fake Rs 2,000 notes with Rs 500 notes. This comes after the RBI’s announcement in May 2023 of the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 currency notes.
The public can exchange or deposit these Rs 2,000 notes in 19 of the RBI’s regional offices which has issue departments. Among the five accused, three were identified as Afzal Hussain, Anwar and Prasidh.
“On September 9, Afzal Hussain (29) from Siruguppa in Ballari approached the RBI’s regional office in Bengaluru with 1,234 notes of Rs 2,000, amounting to Rs 24.68 lakh, to exchange them for Rs 500 notes. Upon verifying the currencies, bank officials found that all the notes were fake. Afzal was immediately handed over to Halasuru Gate police, along with the fake notes, for further investigation.
A case was immediately registered by police. Further investigations resulted in the arrest of the other accused,” said DCP (Central) HT Shekhar.
Halasuru Gate police promptly registered a case under sections related to use of counterfeit currency-notes (BNS 179) and possession of fake notes (BNS 180).