Hunt on for con woman running fake note racket
Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 25
The Punjab Police have busted an inter-state fake currency racket and sounded an alert for a Haryana con woman, the kingpin, suspected of having duped hundreds of persons of crores of rupees in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.
lured through ponzi scheme
- Anju sourced chemicals meant for manufacturing fake currency from West Bengal and paper with Mahatma Gandhi’s watermark from Nepal
- She targeted potential victims through ponzi scheme, promising to double their money in a short time. Later, she gave fake currency to the victims
The woman, identified as Anju, 50, escaped during a raid on a Zirakpur hotel last evening while four of her gang members were arrested. A sum of Rs 21,600 in fake currency, some chemical used in making counterfeit notes and a car were recovered from their possession.
The gang’s network was spread across West Bengal, Nepal and North India, especially Punjab. Anju used to source chemicals meant for manufacturing fake currency from West Bengal and paper with Mahatma Gandhi’s watermark from Nepal.
Said to be a master con artist, the suspect targeted potential victims through a ponzi scheme, promising to double their money in a short time. Later, fake currency was given to the victims.
DSP Vibhor Kumar of the Punjab Police’s Organised Crime Control Unit (OCCU) said Anju even tricked some of her gang members.
She would call victims to a designated place to collect money. Her accomplices would “raid” the place posing as cops. “The woman would raise the alarm, asking all to flee. She would later claim the police had pocketed the money. This way, she duped some persons at Tanda, Himachal Pradesh, recently.”
The fake currency was prepared in denominations of Rs 100 and Rs 500, though the gang circulated Rs 2,000 fake currency as well. “As per the statement of those arrested, the fake currency was so close to real that they had deposited Rs 10,000 at a Hoshiarpur bank recently.”
The OCCU team, led by IG Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh and AIG Gurmeet Chauhan, planned the raid after receiving information about the gang’s activities.
Those arrested included Rajinder, an AC technician; Surjit Singh, a priest; Kulwant Rai, an immigration consultant; and Rakesh Kumar. Police officials said the gang members knew Anju traded in fake currency and they used to lure people to invest in the scheme.
