Rs 8 lakh fake currencies seized, 1 held

KOLKATA: The ramifications of the counterfeit note racket busted in the Charu Market area in south Kolkata last Wednesday point to an international gang operating in fake currencies, both Indian and foreign. Pursuing the investigations which started last Wednesday, policemen from the Charu Market police station carried out a raid at Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas on Saturday night and stumbled upon a network operating on an international scale.Fake Indian currencies were seized in the haul, together with fake Bangladeshi taka and Kuwaiti dinar, amounting to about Rs 8 lakh. Charu Market police station officer in charge Subrata Banerjee said, "Following a raid at Kakdwip, we arrested Ujjal Mondal." While searching Mondal's two-storeyed house, police found wads of fake notes under his bed. "We seized fake Rs 500 Indian currency notes worth Rs 6 lakh. Besides, 80,000 Bangladeshi Taka in denominations of 500 and 100 and 1,850 notes of 10 Kuwaiti dinar were recovered. We are sending a team to a border state of India for more raids," said Banerjee. The counterfeit notes are as good as original complete with water mark and metal strip. Mondal, a motor mechanic, said that he has been dealing in fake currency for the last three months. An agent in Kanpur supplied him the notes for which he got a 50 per cent commission. He would also get a supply from Chittagong in Bangladesh, said police. About a year ago, Mondal had been arrested in a fake currency racket in Kakdwip. On May 15, five sub-agents of the racket were arrested from Charu Market and 76 fake Rs 500 notes were seized from them. They are in the age group of 28-32 and sport mobile phones. The racket came to light when gang member Sudipto Bose bought 5 kg of rice from Ram Chandra Saha's shop in Tollygunge market and gave a fake Rs 500 note. Saha was suspicious and informed the police. Bose, an employed youth living in Sahapur Colony of New Alipore, admitted to the police that he was a sub-agent of fake currency racket. Two fake Rs 500 notes were seized from him. The police then asked Bose to call the person who had supplied him the notes. Without knowing, Swarup Bag, a laboratory assistant in a school, walked into the trap laid by the police. The police also arrested Tarun Mondal, a guard of the same school, and Sanjoy Batabyal, of Dum Dum. Batabyal, who had done an MBA from Bhopal, said that he had got involved in the fake note racket "just for fun".