Bhopal/Khandwa, Nov 23 (IANS) In a dramatic crackdown on counterfeit currency syndicates, Khandwa police dismantled a sophisticated inter-state fake notes racket on Sunday, arresting three key operatives — including the alleged mastermind, a suspended doctor Prateek Navlakhe, a proper medical graduate, with a history of embezzlement — after tracing it back to a mosque cleric’s hideout.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT), led by Additional SP Mahendra Taranekar under SP Manoj Kumar Rai, pieced together the network through technical surveillance and field probes.

Acting on fresh intel, the SIT swooped on a Bagmugaliya hideout in Bhopal, nabbing the trio red-handed.

Seizures included Rs 25,000 in fake notes, nine mobiles, a laptop, 32 ATM cards, 15 cheque books, and printing paraphernalia — evidence of a Rs 30 lakh-plus haul overall.

“This jail-forged gang turned criminal bonds into a counterfeit empire, preying on public trust,” Taranekar said, ensuring deeper probes into property purchases and wider links. Revelations exposed how Navlakhe, 43, an MBBS graduate and ex-Resident Medical Officer at the Burhanpur district hospital, orchestrated the operation from a rented Gokuldham Society flat in Bhopal.

Previously jailed for siphoning crores in government funds, Navlakhe recruited cellmates Gopal alias Rahul (35, from Harda, now in Bhopal) and Dinesh Gore (43, from Amravati, Maharashtra) during their overlapping stints in Khandwa jail for unrelated crimes.

Post-release, they printed notes — four Rs 500s per sheet — using a drying machine, distributing via agents in Nagpur and Malegaon.

The gang, forged in the shadows of Khandwa District Jail, had allegedly flooded markets with bogus Rs 500 notes since 2022, amassing properties through illicit gains.

The bust traces to November 2, when Jawar police station, tipped off by Maharashtra’s Malegaon authorities, raided a madrasa room in Pethiya village.

There, they uncovered fake currency worth Rs 19.78 lakh in Rs 500 denominations, alongside printing presses and inks, stashed in the quarters of Maulana Zuber Ansari (alias Zubair), a cleric from Burhanpur.

Ansari, already in custody in Maharashtra with associate Nazir Akram for peddling Rs 10 lakh in fakes, confessed to sourcing the notes from Dr. Pratik Navlakhe.

The scandal has stunned locals in Pethiya, where villagers panicked post-raid, and Burhanpur, Navlakhe’s hometown. Officials suspect terror financing ties, though unconfirmed, and have alerted the National Investigation Agency.

With cases under relevant sections for counterfeiting and conspiracy, the accused face rigorous grilling.

This operation underscores rising fake currency threats in central India, with police urging vigilance against RS 500 fakes mimicking genuine security features.

–IANS

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