Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Further questioning from 21-year-old Vivek Yadav, arrested by Piplani police on Saturday for running a one-man fake currency unit has revealed that he circulated counterfeit currency not only in Bhopal but also in Vidisha, Sehore and Raisen districts.
Vivek, a Class 10 pass out living in a rented accommodation in Karond had installed a sophisticated setup for producing high quality fake Rs 500 notes including a computer, printer, dyes, adhesives, special paper and hot-stamping foil. Police say the raw material recovered from his home was enough to print counterfeit notes worth over Rs 30 lakh.
ACP Govindpura Aditi B Saxena said during interrogation, Vivek admitted to circulating Rs 5 to 6 lakh worth of fake notes in the past year. He targeted small vendors, tea stalls, paan shops, kirana stores and roadside eateries mainly on city outskirts where small traders usually do not check currency notes.
Each day he carried fake notes worth Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 but circulated only a few to avoid detection. He typically bought items between Rs 20 and Rs 50 and always paid with a Rs 500 note, she added.
Police officials said that Vivek had learned advanced printing techniques through online tutorials and foreign books. He used paper resembling genuine RBI currency and even replicated watermarks to make his notes look genuine.
Vivek was exposed when he attempted to pass a fake note twice at the same shop, leading to the shopkeeper alerting the police. A total of 428 fake notes of Rs 500 denomination were recovered from his house. Vivek has been remanded to judicial custody and police are now probing his online material suppliers and possible interstate links.
