NEW DELHI, Apr 24: The Delhi Police has busted a Haryana-based module and arrested five people who were allegedly involved in manufacturing and circulating counterfeit Indian coins, officials said on Sunday.
The coins were being circulated in different parts of Delhi and Haryana, they said.
Counterfeit Indian coins worth around Rs 10-12 Lakh in the denomination of Rs 20, Rs 10 and Rs 5 have been recovered, officials said.
The counterfeit coins are “of very fine quality and look genuine”, police said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Rajiv Rajan Singh said, “Our team developed input about manufacturing and circulating of counterfeit Indian coins at a huge scale by an interstate syndicate being run by noted illegal counterfeit coins peddler Naresh Kumar.
“On April 22, a raid was conducted and Naresh was apprehended. A total 10,112 counterfeit Indian coins in the denomination of Rs 10 amounting to a face value of Rs. 1,01,120 were recovered,” he said.
During interrogation, he disclosed about an illegal counterfeit coin factory at Imlota village in Charkhi Dadri district of Haryana, police said.
Based on his input, another raid was conducted and the huge set up of manufacturing counterfeit Indian coins, including a large amount of ready to deliver coins, prepared coins, raw material etc, were recovered, the officer said.
In the factory which was operating for the last one-and-a-half months, Naresh along with his associates had manufactured and circulated fake coins worth approximately 10 lakh, police said.
The factory was operating in a room constructed inside a 1,000 square yard plot with sound proof roof to maintain secrecy, he said.
Kumar’s four associates — Santosh Kumar Mandal, Shravan Kumar Sharma, Dharmender Mahto and Dharmender Kumar Sharma, all residents of Bihar, were later apprehended from the factory. They were paid 25 paisa on manufacturing each coin, the police said.
The coins were manufactured from brass and steel. One person used to make around Rs 1,500-2,000 coins per day, they added.
Elaborating about the manufacturing process, the officer said, the inner white coloured part of a coin was made from steel and called ‘tikki’.
The outer part is made from brass and called ‘washer’ and raw materials were purchased by Kumar. Then inner part was adjusted in the washer through hammer, officials said.
“The symbols — Ashoka, Bharat, Rs 10 — were engraved on coins by using hydraulic pressure machines.
“Then, the prepared coins were moved at a fast pace in a machine to bring shine. After that, they were packed in polybags each having 100 coins. In order to make the consignment look original, fake stickers was also pasted,” Singh said.
“Manufacturing counterfeit coins at such huge scale is a serious threat to the security and economy of the country and is a concern for public at large as citizens are being cheated on day to day basis.
“Generally as nobody specifically checks coins, so such counterfeit coins are being circulated in the market very easily,” the DCP added. (PTI)
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