BHUBANESWAR: Two fraudsters of Ganjam who met in a train last year joined hands to trick job aspirants into circulating counterfeit currencies running into several lakhs of rupees. Satya Narayan Prusty and Bhula Pradhan - both in their 20s - finally ran out of luck when one of the victims found out about the fake currencies and reported the matter to the police. But before that, the duo had allegedly circulated lakhs of rupees.
A joint team of Kharavela Nagar police station and Special Squad nabbed Prusty and Pradhan in a hotel near the Railway Station. Police seized fake currency notes having a face value of at least Rs 6.40 lakh from them. All the currencies were in Rs 200 denomination. According to the police, Prusty was involved in cheating job aspirants in various parts of Odisha.
After his Post Graduate Diploma in Computer Applications, he had collected Rs 75,000 from one Bismay Kumar Hota of Dhenkanal district last year on the promise of a job in Odisha Mining Corporation. When the job did not materialise and Hota wanted his money back, Prusty offered him a deal. He gave him Rs 20 lakh of Rs 200 denomination and in exchange wanted notes in Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 denominations. An unsuspecting Hota arranged Rs 3.50 lakh and handed over the amount to Prusty in exchange for the fake currency notes in February.
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Similarly, Prusty collected Rs 8 lakh from one Siba Ranjan Muduli of Balianta last year for providing him a job. He had offered the same deal to Muduli. In exchange for fake currencies, he collected Rs 12 lakh. Muduli lost Rs 20 lakh to Prusty’s trickery. Police said Prusty and Pradhan had received training to produce fake currency notes in Andhra Pradesh besides learning the illegal tricks online.
They designed the fake currency notes using a laptop and a printer in Ganjam’s Jarada. During the raid in the hotel, the police seized 1,657 fake Rs 200 denomination currency notes from them.ACP Arun Kumar Swain said, a case has been registered against the duo for cheating and another for being in possession of fake currency notes. All the fake notes seized from the accused have four similar number panels on them including 174977. Kharvela Nagar Police have received confirmation from Reserve Bank of India that currency notes seized from the accused are fake.