A day after Pauri police had busted a counterfeit currency racket, the people this correspondent talked to on Tuesday said they are scared. An elderly resident of Pauri town said that though the police must be commended for busting such a gang they fear that more such gangs are still active. “Police must be on their toes. We fear that there are more such gangs active here,” he said. Notably, a joint team of Kotdwar Kotwali police and criminal investigation unit (CIU) had arrested four persons who were allegedly running a fake currency network in Moradabad and Bijnor districts of Uttar Pradesh and also in some places in Udham Singh Nagar district of the State from near Garighat at Kotdwar on late Monday evening. The police had seized counterfeit currency with a face value of Rs1,01,200 and two .315 bore country-made pistol aside from two knifes from the quartet. Subsequently, a case had been registered against them under section 420, 489A, 489B. 489 C of the Indian Penal Code and section 25 of Arms Act. The accused were produced in the court on Tuesday after which they were remanded to judicial custody. DIG Garhwal Range Pushpak Jyoti awarded Rs 5000 and Pauri Senior Superintendent of Police Jagat Ram Joshi awarded Rs2500 to the team which had nabbed the accused of the fake currency circulation.
According the information received from the SSP office, the team swung into action after CIU received inputs of some outsiders trying to circulate fake currency at Gaarighat area of Kotdwar. On the direction of the SSP and the Additional Superintendent of police Kotdwar, the team under SHO police Kotwali Kotdwar Uttam Singh Jimiwal and in-charge inspector CIU Manoj Raturi launched operation, nabbed the quartet and recovered fake notes with the face value of over Rs1 lakh ( all in Rs100 denomination). Besides, firearms and some sharp-edged weapons were recovered from the accused. The accused were identified as Vajjid, resident of Tumriyakala, Thana Dilaasi Moradabad, Amit Tayagi, resident of village Ruppur, Shahpur, Thana Siyohara, Bijnor, Nabab, resident of Haripur, Kala Mahuwa Daabra, Jaspur, Udham Singh Nagar district and Vinod, resident of Dharamsha Nagli, Nagina, Bijnor.
Police said that the accused with criminal backgrounds had their network active in Moradabad, Bijnor and Udham Singh Nagar districts. As per the information received from police, Vajjid and Nabab had landed in jail in connection with fake currency circulation in 2011.
The police team which busted the racket included SHO Kotdwar Uttam Singh, in-charge CIU Manoj Raturi, SSI Rakendra Kaithait, SI Pradeep Negi, and constables- Amit Rana, Mukesh (CIU), Vinay (CIU), Harish lal (CIU), Aabid (CIU) , Sunit and Rahil (CIU).
