Chhattisgarh police bust inter-State currency-doubling racket; seven held from Maharashtra
The official said that the accused allegedly cheated people with a claim that they could change blackened and damaged currency into new notes using a chemical and could also double their money in the process
Chhattisgarh police have cracked an interstate currency-doubling scam that defrauded people of millions of rupees, arresting seven accused from Maharashtra, an official disclosed on Sunday. Information gleaned from two female informants arrested in Nagpur led to the police raiding a resort in Khandala, Pune district, where the gang was caught attempting to swindle a Varanasi resident.
Over ₹4 crore in cash, 17 mobile phones, black paper resembling currency notes, glass plates, and other equipment were seized from the syndicate, which had victimized over 100 people across eight states since 2005. The accused, claiming they could turn damaged currency into new notes using chemicals and double money, duped victims by arranging meetings at hotels and demonstrating the process with genuine notes and chemicals.
The case was registered under sections 318(4) and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Police identified the ringleaders as Gyan Prakash Srivastava (46), Praveen Kumar Srivastava (alias Captain), Shetty or Reddy (52), Manoj Kumar Srivastava (55), Vivek Singh (48), Shubham Pandey (37), Yogendra Chauhan (48), and Balmukund Dixit (40). They are currently in transit remand at Raipur, awaiting further arrests of the remaining suspects.
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