Materials seized from the fake note printing unit in Berhampur. Picture by Gopal Krishna Reddy

Berhampur, Sept. 12: Police today unearthed a fake currency printing unit and seized counterfeit notes worth Rs 5 lakh in Rs 50 and Rs 100 denominations.

The police arrested four persons, including two women, who were allegedly running the racket.

A few printers, ink bottles, paper cutters, zinc ball pens, an emblem carrying the image of Mahatma Gandhi used for the watermarks and other accessories were recovered from the arrested persons.

“Chandrama Panigrahy, Gita Pradhan, Niranjan Behera, Susant Samal and Chanchada Sahi from Nuagaon police limits have been apprehended. Gopalpur police have registered cases against them and all the arrested persons were produced in court today,” said Berhampur superintendent of police Sarthak Sarangi.

The police swung into action when an officer of Gopalpur police station received a call from an area located near the beach alleging that two women had paid a wad of Rs 100 currency notes to a shop owner that seemed to be fake ones. Inspector in charge of the police station P.P. Jena rushed to the spot and seized the notes and took Chandrama and Gita for interrogation.

Later, police raided the house of Chandrama and seized more counterfeit currency notes of Rs 100 and Rs 50 denominations. The duo also disclosed that Niranjan had been supplying them the fake notes. They also disclosed the name of Susant, who was an integral part of the racket, the police said.

Two police teams raided the houses of Susant at Nilakanthanagar and Niranjan at Sadananda Vihar. Few printers and ink bottles, along with fake currency notes printed on A4 paper and damaged printed notes, were recovered from Susant’s house. From Niranjan’s residence, fake currency notes, along with paper cutters, zinc ball pens, seal carrying Mahatma Gandhi’s image, paints, wood thinner and glass plates were recovered.

The police allege that Susant was heading the racket and printing the fake notes at his home. He used to deliver it to Niranjan for making the watermarks on the currency notes. Later, they used to give the fake notes to Chandrama for circulation. “The accused persons used to target vegetable markets where the people are in a perpetual rush,” said a police officer.