The CID suspects that the mastermind of the “ISI-backed fake notes racket”, whose three alleged operatives were arrested on Thursday, is from Howrah’s Jagachha.

Officers of the special operation group of the CID arrested Murshidabad-based Mikhail Sheikh, 19, Gautam Mandal, 22, and Ratan Mandal, 24, while they were on their way from Behrampore to Jagachha on Thursday afternoon. Fake notes of Rs 94,000 were found on them.

The three were produced in the chief judicial magistrate’s (CJM) court, Howrah, on Friday and remanded in police custody for 10 days.

A CID officer said: “Now that we have the trio’s custody, we shall try to find out who they had come to meet in Jagachha and whether they have any ISI connection. They have so far been tight-lipped.”

According to CID officers, Gautam and Ratan boarded a bus from the Behrampore bus stand on November 4 with a bag containing the fake notes and reached Howrah on Thursday morning. Mikhail rode a motorcycle to Howrah and met the other two outside Howrah. The three then proceeded to Jagachha on the bike.

Mishap: A middle-aged man died after being knocked down by a lorry on Rabindra Sarani on Friday morning. He was declared dead at RG Kar hospital.