KOLKATA: In 2020, Bengal topped the list in terms of the arrest of counterfeiters, who tried to take advantage of the Covid situation and spread fake Indian currency, according to NCRB data. Fake currency with a face value of over Rs 2.5 crore was seized in the state last year. The state is behind Maharashtra and UP on the seizure amount list.
Maharashtra has recovered FICN with face value of Rs 83.6 crore, followed by UP with Rs 3.9 crore. Though the state lodged barely 81 FIRs — far less compared to Maharashtra (83) and UP (55) — there were 111 arrests . The state STF and the Kolkata Police STF have played crucial roles in nabbing the culprits from various parts of India. Maharashtra has managed to arrest 97 alleged counterfeiters.
Bengal was the only state in India where old fake Rs 500 notes were seized. The law agencies ended up seizing 2,742 such notes. The cops also seized 13,129 new Rs 500 fake notes and another 8345 fake notes of Rs 200 denomination.
Kolkata Police sources said the seizures across Bengal were on expected lines after the spurt in counterfeiting activities in 2019 once the effect of demonetization was over. “We had actually seen a drop in circulation of fake currency in 2020 in Kolkata after we crossed the Rs 1 crore FICN mark in 2019.
These are early signs that the counterfeiters might have regrouped amidst the pandemic. For the past three years, there has been a striking feature as far as FICN is concerned.
“Amongst the 50 odd men arrested since 2019 by Kolkata STF, 16 were from outside Bengal. These include not only men from states like Bihar and Jharkhand, but also from Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan,” said a police officer.
