A saree printer misused his expertise in colour and printing to make duplicate Indian currency notes, which he smartly used in a vegetable market for 10 months.
But he landed in trouble when a tomato vendor got suspicious of his unusually small and frequent purchases and alerted the police.
Udhna police arrested the printer Pintu alias Shivanand Pal, 41, and recovered 259 counterfeit currency notes from him. Pal had circulated fake notes with a face value of Rs 3.5 lakh in the market in the last 10 months, said police sources.
Pal, a native of Uttar Pradesh, started living in Pandesara 10 months ago. He found out that his neighbour Salman was printing fake notes. He learnt the technique from Salman. As Pal was a saree printer, he could successfully make FICN (Fake Indian Currency Notes) that resembled the original ones with his colour and ink skills.
Shrewd moves
He also chose a good-quality paper which was similar to that used in printing Rs 100 notes. Pal knew that vendors mostly scrutinize Rs 500 denomination notes. So, he printed Rs 100 denomination notes. His target was to make Rs 2,250 daily using this illegal means, the sources.
Pal would go to the vegetable market daily with 25 fake notes and buy vegetables worth Rs 10 from vendors. He would get Rs 90 as change in return in original notes and this was his profit. In the last 10 months, he spent FICN worth Rs. 3.5 lakhs in this way.
However, a tomato vendor got suspicious and wondered why Pal purchased tomatoes and other vegetables for Rs 10 only every day. He alerted the police.
According to the police, Pal was already earning a decent salary of Rs 50,000 per month from the saree printing job. However, he wanted to make more quick money.
Cops are on the look out for Salman who has been named as an accused in the case.
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