Hyderabad: In a major development, the main printer of a fake note racket was arrested by the Pahadi Shareef police and special operations team (SOT) of LB Nagar police, on Thursday, January 23.
Counterfeit currency worth Rs 5 lakh, with 1,000 notes of Rs 500, printers, and other incriminating evidence from the arrested.
The arrested accused has been identified as Karli Naveen Kumar, 26, a native of Amarchinta village in Atmakur mandal of Wanaparthi district. According to the police, Kumar was working with his corroborators from West Bengal’s Kolkata and Gujarat, who are yet to be arrested.
The police, in a statement, said that the arrested Naveen Kumar has a diploma in multimedia and graphic designing, which has helped him in the forgery of Indian currency notes. Despite being an engineering graduate and a qualified graphic designer, he failed to find employment which led him to work as a taxi driver to manage his financial woes.
As he was unable to meet his finances, he chose to manufacture fake Indian currency to ‘make money’.
In his research for the right quality paper for the fake currency, he met a Kolkata-based businessman who became his partner in counterfeiting. Naveen Kumar had also shared his plan with one of his friends, who invested in the plan with an EPSON colour printer used in the crime.
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As per the guidance of Naveen’s Kolkata partner, he prepared and couriered counterfeit thread papers to various locations in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and West Bengal. The police said that Naveen had also made counterfeited US Dollar watermarked sheets, which he had sent to the Kolkata partner.
In December 2024, Naveen’s partner from Gujarat visited him and provided him with a better printer, for enhanced results. Fake currency worth Rs 5 lakh using the machine.
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On Thursday, based on a tip-off, the police team apprehended Naveen at Tukkuguda, a town near the Hyderabad airport, to distribute the fake notes.
The police seized the fake currency from his possession and took him to his rented apartment in Mahbubnagar, where he had been manufacturing the counterfeit notes.
Police efforts are underway to arrest fellow members of the fake currency racket.
