3 more held in fake currency racket

Vadodara, July 17 (UNI) Three more youths from Bharuch were arrested by Vadodara crime branch police after they were found to be involved in a fake currency racket that was recently unearthed by the city police.

Sources said interrogation of prime accused Zakir Mohammad Vohra Patel, a software engineer, and his agent Sarfaraj Vohra, had led to the arrest of Zakir's right-hand Yusuf Mohammad Patel, Suresh Prajapati and Balu Parmar.

On the basis of Zakir and Sarfaraj's statements, police yesterday raided the residences of the trio in Jholva village under Vagra taluka and nabbed them with ten more fake notes in the denomination of Rs 100 and several bundles of paper rolls.

Later, a local court remanded the trio to three days police remand.

Crime branch sources said a number of local youths seemed to be involved in the racket which was functioning at the Jholva residence of Zakir. It is suspected that the gang had circulated fake notes, between Rs 5 to 10 lakh, into the market and had bought a jeep.

Crime branch sleuths are interrogating all the five arrested so far. The gang had reportedly circulated their fake notes mostly in Vadodara, Bharuch, Vagra, Bhavnagar, Ankaleshwar and Dakor.

On July 13, the racket was busted after police nabbed Sarfaraj from Kirti Stambh in the city while he was trying to board a bus after cheating a Mangal Bazar trader with two fake notes in the denomination of Rs 100.

UNI