NAGPUR: Two men from West Bengal have been arrested in Nagpur for allegedly possessing fake currency notes with a face value of more than Rs 1.21 lakh, police said on Thursday.
The duo, Jaminarul Hussain Lokman Sheikh (27) and Azimtanu Sheikh (29), both from Malda district, was caught with 243 counterfeit notes in Rs 500 denomination (face value Rs 1,21,500) on late Wednesday night near a hospital under the Tehsil police station area, they said.
The duo initially claimed they were job-seekers, but during a search, police discovered the fake notes hidden in a plastic bag.
The men later told cops they had stolen a passenger's bag containing the notes while traveling on the Geetanjali Express from Howrah to Nagpur, the police said.
They planned to return home after circulating the notes in Nagpur, they added. The two men were produced in a local court, which remanded them to five-day police custody.