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.