Delhi Police's Crime Branch has busted a counterfeit coin manufacturing and supply racket with the arrest of four men and the recovery of 5,000 fake Rs 20 coins with a face value of approximately Rs 1 lakh, officials announced on Sunday, November 1.

Source: Mirror Now

According to police, the Western Range-I unit of the Crime Branch acted on information from an informer and intercepted a car near the Mundka Industrial Area metro station on September 8. Officers allegedly found 50 pouches, each containing 100 counterfeit coins, concealed in a bag in the vehicle. The seizure was documented using the e-Sakshya application, police said.

The driver, identified as Paras Jain, 45, a resident of Nihal Vihar, was arrested at the spot. Police said he allegedly told investigators that he had bought the consignment, with a face value of Rs 1 lakh, for Rs 70,000 a day earlier from Upkar Luthra, also known as Abhay Pratap Singh, a 58-year-old resident of Mohali who police describe as the alleged manufacturer and kingpin of the racket.

Source: TezzBuzz

Investigators said Luthra was allegedly shifting his coin-making unit from Sonipat in Haryana to Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh when the Saharanpur Police's Special Operations Group took him and his associates into custody. Delhi Police later obtained production warrants and formally arrested Luthra and two associates, Anurag Pal and Janardan Kumar Chaurasia. All four accused are now in judicial custody, police said.

Police said Luthra is linked to six previous cases involving counterfeiting charges across Delhi, Haryana and Bihar. Reports said investigators are also questioning two other men named in the case as the probe into the racket's production and supply chain continues. The allegations against all the accused are yet to be tested in court.