Sinister sisters held for churning out phoney money

Savita Kagda (24) and Babita Kagda (22) ha found a distinctive but illicit way of ‘making' money. The two sisters are now in custody of Nigdi police, who claim to have busted a fake currency syndicate with the arrests. Cops say, with the help of some genuine currency notes of denominations Rs 500, Rs 100, Rs 50 and Rs 10, and a colour printer, the duo would produce bogus notes on a A4-size papers, and later cut and paste two sides of a bill with precision. So far, police have seized currency worth nearly Rs 50,000 from their house in Dehu Road, with both genuine and counterfeit notes.

‘Making' money: In a body search cops unearthed counterfeit currency worth Rs 1,800 from Savita (below in green) and Babita. On raiding their home more bogus bills valued at Rs 37,200 were found and genuine notes worth Rs 11,500 were also recovered

Breakthrough
"Around 8 pm on Monday, the sisters purchased two key chains from a roadside vendor near Ota Scheme in Nigdi for Rs 50 and gave her a Rs 500 note. As soon as the woman, Rajiya Bankari, gave them Rs 450, the sisters took off," said Shahaji Umap, deputy commissioner of police for Zone III.

Bankari developed some suspicions showed the bill to a neighbouring shopkeeper, who spotted that it was phony. "The shopkeeper who checked the note realised that it didn't have the Mahatma Gandhi watermark, the texture of the bill and the security thread was different and it also had an uncommon odour," the DCP added. With the help of some other vendors, Bankari chased down the sisters, nabbed them, and brought them to Nigdi police station.

In a body search cops unearthed counterfeit currency worth Rs 1,800, and on raiding their home more bogus bills valued at Rs 37,200 (with denominations of Rs 500, Rs 100, Rs 50 and Rs 10) were found and genuine notes worth Rs 11,500 were also recovered.

"We have also found a computer and a colour printer, being used for the purpose of printing the currency notes," Umap said. He added that Savita and Babita have two brothers, one of whom is a social worker in the area. "It is possible that these two women are merely the foot soldiers, being used by someone higher up in the racket to circulate the bogus money," the officer said.

Black sheep: Cops say Savita and Babita (left) have two brothers, one of whom is a social worker in the area. Pic/Sachin Thakare

The sisters have been in the business of printing fake currency for two years. During interrogation Babita has admitted that they had got the idea of manufacturing counterfeit cash from a lady staying in the same area.

While Savita is a Commerce graduate, Babita has passed std XII. A police official said that Savita was regularly sighted at a local bank where she would help senior citizens fill up their pension forms, and used to take Rs 10 from each as remuneration.

‘No Bangladesh link'
Inspector (crime) PN Supekar from Nigdi police station ruled out a West Bengal or Bangladesh connection. "The sisters never tried to pass the fake currency at big shops. To avoid suspicion, they used to target roadside vendors, often approaching them at night," he said.

Rs 39,000 Amount in fake currency recovered from the duou00a0