Police bust counterfeit Rs 20 coin racket in Uttar Pradesh
Five men were arrested in Saharanpur while moving machinery used to manufacture fake coins from a Haryana unit.
Saharanpur Police intercepted five men on September 13 and recovered six heavy machines used to manufacture counterfeit Rs 20 coins, according to The Indian Express. The group was moving equipment from a unit in Sonipat, Haryana, to Uttar Pradesh to avoid detection when they were apprehended.
The arrested individuals include Upkar Luthra, also known as Abhay Pratap Singh, 62; Himanshu, also known as Gullu, from Saharanpur; and Kuldeep, in his 30s, from Muzaffarnagar. Two associates, Santosh Chaurasia, also known as Janardhan, from Madhubani in Bihar, and Anurag Pal, also known as Lankesh, from Sant Ravidas Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, were also apprehended.
Police recovered 6,400 counterfeit Rs 20 coins with a face value of Rs 1.28 lakh and semi-finished coins estimated to be worth around Rs 5 lakh. The group had been operating a unit in Sonipat for approximately 10 months under the guise of manufacturing screwdrivers.
Station house officer Rajeev Kumar Kaushik identified Upkar as the key figure in the operation. Kaushik said Upkar, a former goldsmith, used his skills to experiment with counterfeit coins to make them resemble genuine ones. Upkar and Himanshu allegedly met in Tihar Jail and built the network together.
The accused claimed they could manufacture between 10,000 and 12,000 counterfeit coins a day, with each coin costing approximately Rs 5 to 6 to produce. The accused also claimed to have circulated fake coins worth more than Rs 70 crore, though police are yet to verify this figure.
