Local Crime Branch staff with seized bogus currency notes.
Staff Reporter :
Two held for cheating people using fake ‘Children’s Bank of India’ note bundles
The Local Crime Branch (LCB) of Nagpur Rural Police has arrested two men for allegedly cheating people by using bundles of fake notes printed with the words ‘Children’s Bank of India’ and passing them off as genuine currency. Police said the fake bundles had a face value of Rs 8.65 crore, though they had no legal value. The accused have been identified as Afroz Khan Zamirulla Khan (43), a resident of Memon Colony in Yavatmal, and Irshad Jumman Shaikh (26), a resident of Deoli in Wardha district. Police received confidential information on July 2 that the two accused were travelling in a white Swift car on the Nagpur-Wardha National Highway and were planning to cheat people. A trap was laid near Asola-Savangi.
When police signalled the car to stop, the driver allegedly tried to escape. After a brief chase, the vehicle was intercepted and both the accused were arrested. During the search, police recovered 2,300 bundles of fake notes in the denominations of Rs 500, Rs 200 and Rs 100. Though the printed face value of the bundles was Rs 8.65 crore, the notes were marked ‘Children’s Bank of India’ and were not genuine currency. A police officer said the accused had already cheated two to three people using this method. “They would approach people claiming they had bundles of cash worth Rs 8 lakh and offer to sell them for Rs 1 lakh. To gain the victim’s trust, they first completed a small transaction using genuine notes worth Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000.
During the final deal, they placed one genuine note on the top and another at the bottom of the fake bundle which made it appear as real. Since such deals usually involved unaccounted money, many victims avoided approaching the police,” the officer said. Police seized the fake note bundles, genuine cash worth Rs 5,600, the Swift car and four mobile phones, with the total value of the seized property estimated at Rs 3,48,600. A case has been registered at Butibori Police Station under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Motor Vehicles Act. Police are investigating whether the accused were involved in similar frauds in other districts. The action was taken under the guidance of Senior Superintendent of Police Dr Harssh A Poddar and Additional Superintendent of Police Anil Mhaske. The operation was led by Police Inspector Ankush Mane of the Local Crime Branch.
