Malkangiri: The Malkangiri police busted a racket involved in fake currency printing and arrested three people in this connection Monday.
Giving the details of the gang’s operation at a press conference held here, Malkangiri Superintendent of Police, Jagmohan Meena, said the accused were produced in a court on the charge of printing and circulating fake currencies of Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 denominations in the locality.
The arrested men were identified as Manoranjan Malakar, 26, of MV-31 and Pabitra Mandal, 26, of Pandripani in Malkangiri district, and Sujit Pandey of Kumaraj in Sukma district of neighbouring Chhattisgarh.
According to sources, the accused were printing and circulating the fake currency notes among ganja traders who in turn were using them to buy ganja from the tribal cultivators of Chitrakonda area.
It was learnt that Sunday the local police got information about the racket from a confirmed source and raided MV-31 immediately. The three were arrested along with 14 fake notes of Rs 2,000 and 12 notes of Rs 500 denominations and machines and instruments used for their illegal activity.
Malkangiri police filed a case (52/19) against the accused. IIC of Malkangiri police station Ranjan Kumar Sahu and his staff were also present at the presser.
PNN