Six people have been arrested in connection with an alleged counterfeit Rs 20 coin-making network that operated from Haryana’s Sonipat and was allegedly planning to shift its machinery to Uttar Pradesh, according to indianexpress.com.
Saharanpur Police intercepted five accused in the Titron area on September 13 while they were allegedly transporting six heavy machines from Sonipat. Police recovered 6,400 counterfeit Rs 20 coins with a face value of Rs 1.28 lakh and semi-finished coins estimated to be worth around Rs 5 lakh.
The arrested men were identified as Upkar Luthra alias Abhay Pratap Singh, 62; Himanshu alias Gullu of Saharanpur; Kuldeep of Muzaffarnagar; Santosh Chaurasia alias Janardhan of Madhubani, Bihar; and Anurag Pal alias Lankesh of Sant Ravidas Nagar, Uttar Pradesh. Police later arrested Mithlesh Chaurasia, 55, from Madhubani in a joint operation with Bihar Police.
Police said the group had run a unit in Sonipat for about 10 months under the guise of manufacturing screwdrivers. The operation was shut after one associate was arrested by Delhi Police, following which the accused allegedly attempted to move the equipment to Uttar Pradesh.
According to police, the unit used coin-sized rings made from aluminium, copper and nickel, along with specially ordered dies, to make the fake coins. Investigators also seized 39 unmarked dies, 20 marked dies, a die-polishing machine and other tools from the accused.
“The accused claimed they could manufacture 10,000 to 12,000 counterfeit coins a day — each coin cost around Rs 5 to 6 apiece to manufacture. However, we could not verify the claim because the machines were not running when the equipment was recovered in Saharanpur,” a police officer said.
Police alleged that counterfeit coins were supplied to intermediaries in packets of 100, with coins having a face value of Rs 200 sold for Rs 160. The coins were then allegedly passed through toll plazas, liquor shops, small towns and village shops. SSP, Saharanpur, Abhinandan said the accused claimed to have circulated fake coins worth more than Rs 70 crore, though police are yet to verify the figure.
Investigating officer and station house officer Rajeev Kumar Kaushik said Upkar was the key figure in the operation and had previously been arrested by Delhi Police in a counterfeit coin case. Police said another alleged group member, Paras Jain, was arrested by Delhi Police in September.
