5-Rupee Counterfeiters Arrested

5-Rupee Counterfeiters Arrested

This article was originally printed in Numismatic News.
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About the same time as the Reserve Bank of India was announcing its plans to issue 10-rupee coins rather than bank notes of the same denomination the Lodhi Colony police near New Delhi were announcing the arrest of an organized gang counterfeiting 5-rupee coins.

According to the Nov. 25 Hindustan Times newspaper, “Three men were arrested from near central Delhi’s Sarai Kale Khan ISBT for the alleged involvement in running an organized racket of circulating counterfeit 5-rupee coins in the National Capital Region, police said on Sunday. [A] Crime Branch officer claimed 30,000 such fake coins—the face value of which was 1.50 lakh—were recovered from the possession of one Sweekar Luthra, 35, who hails from Bulandshahr, Ankit, 21, from Farrukhabad, and Darshan Kumar, 40, a resident of Uttam Nagar.”

An unnamed police officer is quoted as saying, “The arrests were made based on a tip-off that a gang led by Luthra was supplying fake coins to people in Delhi and the NCR for several months. We were told that the gang would travel from Ghaziabad to Sarai Kale Khan ISBT to deliver a huge consignment of these to a man named Pankaj on Thursday evening.”

The Indian publication Business Standard reported on Nov. 30 that “Six packets containing 5,000 counterfeit coins of 5-rupee denomination, having [a] face value of 1.5 lakh rupees, were recovered from the car in which they had come to deliver the coins.”

It doesn’t appear this is simply some local gang trying to cash in on bogus coins. According to the Dec. 1 The Times of India newspaper, “Two years after the Lodhi Colony police busted an international racket circulating fake coins from across [the] border, the crime branch has found evidence of the same gang at work with the re-arrest of its linchpin.”

The article continues, quoting police spokesman Bhism Singh as saying: “With the arrest of three persons, we have busted an international network of criminals involved in minting counterfeit Indian coins in Nepal and supplying the fake currency in India. A total of 309,000 counterfeit coins of 5-rupee denomination have been seized. A [Chevrolet] Tavera used in the transportation and distribution of these coins has been seized.”

Singh told the newspaper the coins were originating from Birganj in Nepal. He is quoted as saying, “Fake coins worth 1 crore rupees have entered the country via eastern UP yet again after 2010. We are in talks with the Reserve Bank of India to identify these coins. The gang is headed by Sweekar Luthra who was arrested in Delhi along with his brother two years ago.”

The article then identifies the same people named in the Hindustan Times article, calling Kumar “a master thief with 29 cases against him.”

This counterfeiting ring might suggest the intrigue someone would like to read in a mystery novel or see in a movie. According to police, Sweekar confessed he used the counterfeit coins to finance residential construction in Tilak Nagar in collaboration with what the police termed as “a political family.”

Singh continued, “The gangsters are helped by railway employees and customs officials near [the] Nepal border. Pankaj, a resident of Shakarpur in Delhi, is a supplier of fake coins. Rajendra Sakia, Upkar Luthra who is Sweekar’s brother, Raj Kumar, and Pankaj are the gang members yet to be arrested.”

There is an ominous slant to this counterfeiting ring as well. Police indicated the foreign link became clear once they realized the similarities to the previous arrests.

A source that chose to remain anonymous said, “Their aim is to destabilize the economy. Such small denominations do not attract the attention of law enforcers.”