Fake currency racket busted at Hydrabad

ISI LINKS:Additional Commissioner of Police A.R. Anuradha presents the three-member gang before the media in Hyderabad on Saturday.

 Source : The Hindu :Sunday, Feb 13, 2011

HYDERABAD: Police on Saturday arrested three persons from Kurnool who procured fake

Counterfeit currency notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 denominations having face value of Rs. 6.5 lakh and a Santro car were seized from them, the Commissioner's Task Force DCP, V.B. Kamalasan Reddy, said. Among the arrested was Akula Narendra Kumar Reddy, 36, a businessman from Banganapally of Kurnool presently living at Ramanthapur here.

Police believe Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) is behind printing fake Indian currency notes appearing exactly like original ones using latest technology. This is part of their plans to destabilise Indian economy by pumping in fake notes.

Earlier, the agency used to smuggle counterfeit notes through borders along Pakistan. Due to increased surveillance, the fake notes are being sent through porous points along Bangladesh border through West Bengal now.

Before joining hands with gangs circulating fake currency, Reddy was lodged in prison in a murder case. After coming out on bail, he bought a lorry and leased it out to an operator in Chitradurg where he came in contact with a person called Jaya Laxmi supplying counterfeit currency printed in Pakistan.

In 2007, the Nandyal police arrested Reddy while trying to circulate fake currency notes. Three years later, the accused met Shafir and Amir -- both from West Bengal -- who were procuring fake currency notes from a person named Kabeer Hussain of Bangladesh, through a mediator P. Kumar.

Reddy and his associates circulated fake currency notes having face value of Rs. 65 lakh in Andhra Pradesh from April to August last year. The Kadapa district police arrested two of Reddy's accomplices while he managed to escape. Since then, he shifted to Ramanthapur and is operating from here. On a tip-off about his operations, the TF (West) kept tab on his movements and caught him along with his associates, Syed Hussain, 20, and Maqbool Husain, 20, at Mehdipatnam.

'To curb fake currency, go Indian'

Source:fe :Agencies: Thursday, Apr 01, 2010 at 1532 hrs IST





New Delhi: The Finance Ministry should encourage local manufacturing of currency paper to check counterfeits and exempt its production from excise duty, a high level committee has said.

In a report submitted to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday, the committee has recommended that the Directorate of Currency be set up to oversee research and development to add security features in currency notes.

It has called for a National R&D centre under the proposed Directorate for conducting research in areas like raw material, security features and machinery required for the production of Indian bank notes and other security sensitive items.

The nine-member committee, headed by former bureaucrat Shilabhadra Banerjee, also suggested setting up of a national-level coordinating agency for investigating the menace of fake currency notes.

According to an official statement, the committee has suggested that emphasis be laid on indigenisation of bank note paper production, security inks and coin plating.

The committee has recommended exempting currency paper manufactured in India from excise duty and suggested waiving of customs duty on imported machinery for producing bank note paper and printing.

It has also called for launching a multimedia awareness campaign by RBI to educate and help people distinguish between genuine and fake notes.

The statement said, "The Finance Minister appreciated the work done by the Committee and emphasised the early implementation of the recommendations by the Ministry."

It said the committee was constituted to review the acquisition procedure of the security features for currency notes and suggest a roadmap for progressive indigenisation of various inputs including high end machinery and security features.

Recently, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said in Mysore, "I am keenly awaiting the recommendations of this committee, after which, I plan to develop a roadmap for indigenisation (of currency paper production), in consultation with the RBI."