Fake notes issued by ‘Manoranjan Bank of India': Four of gang held, racket busted

Indian Express

5 days ago

When a man looking to buy a property in South Delhi came out of an upscale CR Park flat on July 4, a bag of cash was given to him by a group of four persons to complete his purchase. He allegedly did not have immediate access to cash for the transaction, and he transferred Rs 40 lakh online to them from his bank account.
As he opened the bag after reaching home, he found fake notes, not issued by the RBI but by 'Manoranjan Bank of India', he told police. He realised that he was duped and went back to the flat to confront the accused, but they had absconded. He filed the complaint on July 6 at the CR Park police station. Following an investigation into the case, the fake currency racket was busted on July 9, the Delhi Police said on Monday, adding that the four persons have been arrested.
'The four men met him at the flat in CR Park, where several other people were also present. The accused showed him a large amount of cash, following which the complainant transferred a sum of Rs 40 lakh through online banking. In return, they handed over the bag, and counted a portion of the cash in front of him using a machine,' DCP (South) Ankit Chauhan said.
After the complaint was filed, a team under Inspector Girish Chandra of the Special Staff assessed the details of the bank account in which the money was transferred. A tip-off was received on July 9 that the accused would be coming to another flat in the Saidulajab area to execute a similar fraud. 'The team then laid a trap, and a raid was conducted at the flat. Three persons were held.' DCP Chauhan said.
The three arrested accused were identified as Nikhil, Prince Pal, and Parvez. On their instance, the fourth member of the gang, Asgar Khan, was also arrested the next day.
As the gang was busted, police seized fake currency notes with a face value of Rs 1.25 crore, a cash counting machine, and Rs 7.5 lakh in cash. The bank account used by the gang had Rs 4.5 lakh, which was allegedly duped from one of the victims.
The probe, officers said, revealed a coordinated pan-India operation to print and distribute counterfeit notes.
'The role of Asgar was to get the client through lenders who needed immediate cash in exchange for the amount they had deposited in banks. Parvez was to arrange the flat for meetings. Nikhil's role was to manage the bag of cash while Prince Pal assisted them in the counting process,' DCP Chauhan said.
The gang had executed similar frauds — two in Tughlakabad to the tune of Rs 1 crore and Rs 18 lakhs respectively, and another in Chattarpur.
On the modus operandi of the gang, DCP Chauhan said, 'Before bringing the client, a setup was prepared inside a well-maintained flat — one room had a trunk filled with dummy cash bundles, and another had a cash counting machine placed on a table.'
A bundle of Rs 500 notes, which were not fake, would be counted by the machine and handed over to the client to win their trust. Once they would stop checking the other bundles, the fraudsters would then start counting the fake notes at a faster speed and pack them up in a bag, the police said.