Fake currency racket busted in Odisha, four arrested

Jajpur (Odisha): A fake currency racket has been busted with the arrest of four accused and seizure of counterfeit notes of Rs 27.46 lakh in Odisha’s Jajpur district on Saturday.

The police seized counterfeit notes in Rs 50, Rs 100, Rs 500 and Rs 2000 denominations from them, said Inspector General of Police (Central) Soumendra Priyadarshi here on Saturday.

“On Friday, the Kaliapani police seized fake currency worth of Rs 8,200 of Rs 100 denominations from Pradip Kumar Pradhan. During interrogation, Pradip disclosed the names of his associates Chandramani Bal, Rameswat Moharana and Sarbeswar Sahoo, after which the police raided their hideouts and seized huge amounts of counterfeit currency notes from them,” said the IG.

During the investigation, police also came to know that Ramesh Moharana had been arrested in 2010 and 2011 by the Gopalpur police of Ganjam district and Gunupur police of Rayagada district, respectively, on the charges of his involvement in fake currency racket, added the IG.

The arrested persons were identified as Pradip Kumar Pradhan (34) of village Kingola under the Bhuban police station in Dhenkanal district, Chandramani Bal (32) of Chhachina under the Mangalpur police station in Jajpur district, Ramesh Moharana (35) of village Nuapada under the Nuagaon police station in Ganjam district and Sarbeswar Sahoo (43) of village Talamulapsatana under the Banarpal police station in Angul district.

All the arrested persons were booked under Sections 489(A) (B), (C) and (D) and 120 (B) of Indian Penal Code.