Two men have been arrested for printing fake money in Mumbai after they suffered financial loss due to demonetisation.
Ahmedabad Mirror reported that the two men printed the money in a bid to cancel out their losses, but that they were caught by the local crime branch with 119 fake notes worth Rs 59,500 ($877/€841), and a “high quality printer”. After a tip-off, police arrested Chirag Chauhan, 25, and Bhachubha Jadeja, 27, who had known each other for 10 years.
The money-lending business was started by Chirag three years ago, lending between Rs 10,000 ($147/€141) and Rs one lakh ($1,474/€1,414), with an interest of two percent per month. After the demonetisation of certain notes in India, they were left with a large amount of money which was unusable.
A police investigator said that “preliminary interrogation revealed that they have already used 15 fake printed notes of Rs 500 ($7/€7) while doing transactions in Khavda and Madhapar villages around Bhuj”. The pair were said to have got the idea after reading newspaper reports on circulating fake notes after the demonetisation, and started trying out printing fakes on high quality paper, which they were said to have managed to “pass off” to the public.