THANE: The
anti-extortion cell has arrested a
mason allegedly for possessing
counterfeit currency notes with a face value of over Rs 2.31 lakh which was pumped allegedly from
Bangladesh.
The accused identified as Prakash Mahato 42, was arrested by a team led by inspector Rajkumar Kothmire near Dnyansadhna college late on Tuesday evening.
“We found 113 notes of Rs 2000 and 10 notes of Rs 500 while other were in Rs 100 denominations,” Kothmire added.
Mahato originally hails from Hazaribagh in
Jharkhand and was currently residing in the Wagle Estate locality here, added sub-inspector Hemant Dhole. During the course of interrogation, the police found that he was earlier arrested by Barkatha police station, Hazaribaug in 2013 with nearly counterfeit currency worth Rs 37000.
After securing bail, he came out and took up the work in Wagle estate area as Mason and during his visits to Hazaribaug, he would contact one person named Hemlal Pandit who would give him the consignment with a commission of nearly 30 percent per one lakh, informed sub-inspector Sandesh Gawand. Pandit is constantly in contact with the handlers of counterfeit currency which are routed through Bangladesh and then to the porous borders close to Bangladesh and possibly manufactured in Pakistan.
“So far the other links with the accused are yet to be established and the fake currency notes seized in this consignment seems to be of high quality. Due to which we shall seek the assistance from the various agencies to find out the source of the seized currency notes, source and disbursement and also the modus operandi involved in the crime,” said Kothmire
