Man prints currency notes using photocopier, arrested

The Pydhonie police recently arrested a student of Unani medicine for using fake currency notes that he printed using a colour photocopier.

He was identified as Mohammad Faisal Rehman Khan alias Dr Faizan Rizwan Khan, 30. According to the police, he is a third-year student of Unani medicine. A native of Chhatisgarh, he came to Mumbai three months ago and applied to hospitals for an internship. He stays near Zakaria Masjid at Mohammad Ali Road.

“A month ago, a genuine note got accidentally mixed up with a bunch of papers he was photocopying. The colour copy of the note put ideas into his head,” said an official from the Pydhonie police station.

He added that Khan began printing notes, which he used to make payments at restaurants and clothes shops. “The reason he used fake notes in these places was that he did not spend much time there and he never visited the same shop or restaurant twice,” he said.

On Friday, Khan hired a taxi and got down at a junction on Mohammad Ali Road. He gave a note of Rs500 to the driver, Hauslaprasad Dubey, who returned Rs480. Khan immediately hired another taxi, and this made Dubey suspicious. He checked the note Khan had given him and found it to be fake. He raised an alarm and alerted the police, who nabbed Khan.

Khan was booked under section 489 (b) of the Indian Penal Code for using counterfeit notes. He has been remanded in police custody till April 21.

“Khan claims he was not earning much and thought that fake notes would help him get by in the city,” said senior inspector Shamsherkhan Pathan.