Seven held with fake notes worth Rs5.1 lakh

The officers of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Sunday arrested seven persons with fake currency running into lakh of rupees. ATS officers said the counterfeit notes were sourced from Bangladesh.

Counterfeit notes of Rs500 and Rs1,000 denominations worth Rs5.10 lakh have been seized. All seven are natives of Malda in West Bengal.

They were produced before a local court on Monday and were remanded to police custody till April 30.

According to inspector Dinesh Agarwal, the accused were arrested by the Kalachowkie unit of the ATS from Shastri Nagar area in Santa Cruz (West).

A trap was laid by a team comprising inspectors Arvind Sawant, Subash Dudhgaonkar, assistant inspectors Suvarna Shinde and Sachin Kadam.

According to Sawant, the notes have the signature of former RBI governor YV Reddy. “They are of of high quality and can’t be detected by a common man,” he said.

An ATS officer said the kingpin of the group has been identified and is in the city. “Investigations have revealed that some of the arrested persons had visited Bangladesh to collect the counterfeit notes,” he said.