Another arrest in fake currency case
NATIONWIDE RAMIFICATIONS Central agencies also pursuing case, might take over investigation
Major ramifications of fake Indian currency notes (FICN) racket are gradually coming to light after the arrest of Dinesh Singh, associated with a political party, here in Mahanagar on Friday. The names of three persons, including a dentist and a Punjab hotelier, have also surfaced in the racket during investigation.
The racket was unearthed after the arrest of Bajrangi Rai along with FICN of the face value of 2.5 lakh in Mahanagar on Tuesday.
On Friday, cops took Rai on three-day custody remand to extract more details about the FICN racket. Singh was arrested on the basis of information extracted from Rai on the first day of the remand.
SSP Praveen Kumar said further probe after Rai’s arrest confirmed that Singh was a frequent caller to him. He said Singh was quizzed and brought before Rai during custody remand to crosscheck the details and finally the former was arrested after finding substantial evidences against him. He said Singh had taken a huge amount of FICN from Rai recently, apparently to use it during the Lok Sabha elections.
He said, “Rai’s close aide Raju Yadav, who works in a Punjab hotel, has also been arrested in Punjab on the tip-off provided by our team. Fake currency of the face value of ` 90,000 has been recovered from him. Yadav works as carrier for Rai and brings along FICN here from Malda in West Bengal. We will also bring Raju here for further interrogation after procuring his remand”.
He said the cross-examination of facts extracted from Rai and Yadav might lead to a major breakthrough in the racket.
The SSP said the name of the city-based dentist, who also has political links, and Punjabbased-hotelier, also surfaced during the probe. The police are still verifying the dentist’s role and the inputs regarding the hotelier have been passed on to the Punjab police.
The SSP said central agencies were also pursuing the case and it was possible that they would take over the investigation, as the racket had nationwide roots.
After his arrest on Tuesday, Rai had revealed that the demand of FICN by people associated with political parties had increased during Lok Sabha polls. Police said Rai had delivered FICN of the face value of ` 50 lakh to many ‘politically connected’ people in the past two months before landing in the police net. Rai had allegedly also supplied FICN of the face value of several crores to various people in the past one year.