Two in Special Operations Group net for printing fake notes in Jaipur

JAIPUR: The Special Operations Group (SOG) of Rajasthan police arrested two members of a gang involved in printing fake Indian currency notes (FICN) from a house in the city Wednesday.
The SOG seized Rs 5,80,900 FICN from the two accused identified as Brajesh Maurya (28) and Pratham Sharma (19). DIG (SOG) Sharat Kaviraj said that the fake currency recovered from the accused is of high quality, despite the fact that the notes were printed from a normal inkjet printer.
This is probably one of the first incidents that a city-based gang was found to be printing and circulating high-quality FICN because in most of the past incidents, the police found that the currency notes were forged at different parts of the country, including in Malda in West Bengal and brought here for circulation. The SOG also seized printers, scanning and lamination machines, and papers that were used by the gang to print out fake currency.
Talking to TOI, Kaviraj said that at the first glance, the FICN seized from the gang may look indistinguishable from the original currency notes. He advised people to take due caution before accepting cash.
“The bleed line on a fake Rs 500 note looks akin to the one found on the original currency notes. However, if one were to scratch over the line, it may come off easily,” he said.
Similarly, the bleed line on the original notes is embedded, while the gang had put it separately pasted it above the forged notes. “Though the notes were produced from a simple printer, the gang managed to mimic several key features of the original notes. Therefore, I advise people to pay more attention to the quality of the notes,” Kaviraj said.
The Rajasthan police are now working to track down other suspected members of the gang.