Rajasthan Police have busted an alleged counterfeit-currency gang said to have been inspired by the web series 'Farzi', arresting six accused under Operation Notflix after an investigation that spread across five states, India Today reported. Dungarpur Superintendent of Police Manish Kumar said the network had links in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Chhattisgarh. All the claims in the case are allegations at this stage and are yet to be proven in court.

Source: India Today via News89

The investigation began in late September, when Dungarpur Police arrested Bhavesh Khatik and Nayan Joshi at the Mada School Ground in the Ramsagada police station area. Police said 991 fake notes of Rs 500 were recovered from them, with a face value of Rs 4,95,500 — yaani about Rs 4.96 lakh. Questioning of the two men allegedly led investigators to the wider network.

Source: The CSR Journal

Police said the alleged mastermind, Ravi Kumar, a resident of Pratapgarh in Uttar Pradesh, fled after learning of the police action and kept changing his locations and mobile numbers. A district cyber cell and special police team tracked him for about 1,300 kilometres over three days and arrested him at Ludhiana railway station in Punjab, according to the reports.

Three more accused were arrested from other states. Police allege that Anand Rajput of Ambala Cantt in Haryana first conceived the idea of printing counterfeit notes after watching 'Farzi' and guided the group on sourcing paper and the printing process; that Mohammed Arif of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh supplied paper through a Telegram channel named 'Ankit Paper Seller'; and that Tarun Malekar of Durg in Chhattisgarh sent the digital file of the Rs 500 note. Investigators said Photoshop and YouTube tutorials were allegedly used in preparing the notes.

Source: The Indian Witness

Police said the investigation is continuing to establish how much counterfeit currency the gang allegedly produced and circulated, and whether more people were involved. The six arrested men are Bhavesh Khatik and Nayan Joshi of Dungarpur, Ravi Kumar of Pratapgarh, Anand Rajput of Ambala, Mohammed Arif of Kanpur and Tarun Malekar of Durg, according to police.