3 arrested with Rs 42 lakh in fake Rs 2,000 notes in Mohali, were offering exchange at 30%

Police have arrested three persons including a woman pursing MBA, an engineering graduate along with a property dealer and recovered Rs 42 lakh in fake prints of the new Rs 2,000 banknote from their possession at a naka near Jagatpura T-point on Airport Road in SAS Nagar on Wednesday.

The trio were identified as Abhinav Verma (21) of Dhakoli, an engineering graduate, Suman Nagpal (54), a property dealer of Ludhiana, and Vishakha Verma (23) of Kapurthala who is pursing MBA from Manipur.

Police have also recovered a brand new Audi car from the accused bearing Haryana number and had a red beacon to dodge the police at nakas. The police claimed that they are a part of a five-member gang that was duping people on pretext of exchanging the recently demonetised banknotes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 after deducting commission of 30%.

“Even the currency provided by the group after charging commission was fake,” said Parminder Singh, SP (City), SAS Nagar.

A car bearing Haryana number was signaled to stop by the police at a naka and during the checking, police recovered fake currency worth Rs 42 lakh from the possession of the accused.

“Abhinav is an engineering graduate who is into manufacturing sensors to be installed in the sticks for visually handicapped. His office is in Chandigarh and they used to print the fake currency of Rs 2,000 denomination at his office only,” informed the SP.

“During preliminary questioning, Abhinav revealed that Vishakha is his cousin and she used to help him in the office. Her father is an engineer with rail coach factory in Kapurthala. She along with Abhinav used to print the notes,” added the SP.

“The accused Suman’s job was to identify the customers and direct them to the other accused. Teams have been sent to arrest the remaining two accomplices of the 5-member gang,” said the SP.

The trio was remanded to one-day police custody by the local court as police wanted to recover the machines used to print fake currency and arrest their two more accomplices. The police have registered a case at Sohana police station and initiated investigations.