Rise in fake Rs 10, Rs 20 notes in Thane, says CID

And, these have mostly been found in Thane, CID data, collected through the Right to Information Act, shows

Fewer fake notes seem to be floating around in the state after the demonetisation in 2016, but there has been a rise in seizure of forged Rs 10, Rs 20 and Rs 100 notes, according to the data collected from the Maharashtra Criminal Investigation Department (CID). And, these have mostly been found in Thane, CID data, collected through the Right to Information Act, shows.

In 2018, the CID recovered 4,651 Rs 100 notes, 60 in Rs 20 and 57 in Rs 10 notes. While the agency did not find any forged notes of R10 and R20 in 2016 and 2017, only 601 fake notes of Rs 100 were found in 2016.

Also Read: Kandivli resident arrested for possessing fake currency worth Rs 28 thousand

A total of 487 fake Rs 50 notes were recovered in 2016, but the following year saw a massive decline with the recovery of only 109 notes of the denomination. However, last year saw a rise with CID seizing 352 fake notes of Rs 50. Of the overall 469 fake currency notes of Rs 10, Rs 20 and Rs 50 recovered last year, 271 were seized in Thane city, while 182 from Solapur.

Of the total 4,651 notes of Rs 100, maximum number of fake currency was recovered from Aurangabad city (2,141), followed by Nandurbar (995), Pune city (545) and Thane city (340) among others.

Former Director General of Police Praveen Dixit said, "The small currency notes are circulated by small-time goons. They procure the fake notes through scanning and target small businesses within the area like vegetable vendors and mobile recharge shops."

Also Read: Mumbai Crime: Fake currency notes worth Rs 15.76 lakh seized in Thane

Meanwhile, there was an overall seizure of fake currency notes worth Rs 17.64 crore in 2016 when the Centre demonetised Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes. But 2017 saw a massive decline with the agency seizing Rs 11.60 crore worth of fake notes while in 2018 it seized Rs 11.14 crore.

More than 80 per cent of the fake Rs 1,000 notes recovered last year was seized in Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's hometown Nagpur. Of the total 3091 notes, 2,585 were found in Nagpur followed by Nashik (382), Solapur (95), and others. Highest number of fake Rs 500 notes seized last year was also from Nashik - 2,661 of 4691 notes. Aurangabad stood second with seizure of 1,071 Rs 500 notes followed by Nashik (553).

About 2,009 Rs 200 notes, which was introduced post-demonetisation, were recovered in drought-affected Yavatmal last year. A total of 4,388 notes of this denomination was recovered from across the state in 2018. While 1,131 notes were seized in Pune Rural, 977 in Aurangabad and 119 in Thane. Dixit said, "The fake notes come from Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan and circulated to other states via West Bengal." Nagpur Commissioner of Police Bhushan Kumar Upadhyay said, "The number of cases is increasing as we are conducting frequent checks into fake currency rackets."

Also Read: Man arrested for procuring fake currency worth Rs 48,000

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