BHOPAL: A suspected inter-state fake Indian currency notes (FICN) racket has been uncovered with the arrest of two men in Maharashtra’s Malegaon town and the recovery of counterfeit notes worth nearly Rs 29 lakh from Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
Around Rs 10 lakh in fake Rs 500 notes was seized from the possession of Zubair Ansari and Nazim Ansari, both residents of Burhanpur district in Madhya Pradesh, when they were arrested in Malegaon on October 30. Following the arrests, Madhya Pradesh Police searched a mosque-cum-madrasa in Pethia village of Khandwa district, where Zubair had been working as a Hafiz, and recovered an additional Rs 19.78 lakh in counterfeit currency on Sunday.
“From recent news reports we came to know about the arrest of the two men in Maharashtra. The residents of Pethia village told the local police in Jawar, about one of the arrested men, Zubair working as a Hafiz at the local mosque for the last three months. Subsequently, a police team started on Sunday, searching the room in the mosque-cum-madrasa, where Zubair lived. The search has so far led to the recovery of counterfeit Indian currency notes totalling over Rs 19 lakh. The seized FICN is in the denomination of Rs 500 notes,” Khandwa district police superintendent Manoj Rai told the TNIE on Sunday.
“We are sending a team to Malegaon (Maharashtra) also to bring Zubair on remand to Khandwa for questioning. A case pertaining to the FICN is being registered at Jawar police station,” Rai added.
Preliminary inquiries revealed that Zubair had been employed at the mosque in Pethia for the past three months, earning Rs 12,000 per month. He had been away from the village since October 26, reportedly to visit an ailing family member in Burhanpur and to collect donations for mosque construction.
Sources said Zubair had earlier worked as a Hafiz at another mosque in Khandwa district. Investigators are now probing whether the two men were part of a larger network distributing fake currency across state borders.
