Hyderabad: The Cyberabad Special Operations Team along with the local police raided a star hotel at Tondupally in Shamshabad and caught two persons from Andhra Pradesh on charges of making counterfeit Indian currency and circulating it.
Counterfeit currency of various denominations valued at Rs.8.5 lakh and other material was seized.
The arrested persons were identified as T.Ranjith Singh, a construction supervisor and M.Mohan Rao, a trader, both from Anakapally in Andhra Pradesh. They were involved in similar cases earlier.
According to the police, the duo conspired to make fake Indian currency in the denominations of Rs.50, Rs.100, Rs.200 and Rs.500 and circulate in the market. They procured a colour printer, scanner, software and other material required for the same.
Ranjith Singh, the kingpin with the help of his associate Mohan Rao, stayed put in the hotel and started preparing the currency notes.
“The duo contact fake currency agents through Instagram and Telegram and were operating fake currency business in various States including Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka with their agents on 1:3 ratio of original currency,” said K.Narayana Reddy, DCP, Shamshabad.
They were mixing fake Indian currency notes with genuine currency notes and using it during night time at crowd places like markets, small business vendors, fruit markets, and grocery stores and cheating public, the DCP said.
Following a tip-off, the police teams raided the hotel and nabbed the duo and seized the counterfeit currency notes and other incriminating material.