PUNE: Ahilyanagar police arrested three men from Baramati on Tuesday for allegedly using counterfeit currency notes to make people believe in ‘rain of money’, police said on Wednesday.
The police seized 18,419 counterfeit ₹ 500 notes, five mobile phones and a car from the accused. The total value of the seized property is estimated at ₹ 1.03 crore, police said. The arrested accused were Ganesh Dilip Shewale, 33, Sumit Vikas Chandanshive, 25, and Suraj Vasant Kamble, 27, all residents of Baramati.
The alleged ‘money rain’ incident occurred at the MIDC area of Ahilyanagar.
The team searched Shewale’s residence in Vinayak Colony, Wadgaon Road and recovered a bag from under the staircase allegedly containing counterfeit currency and bundles of blank paper used for making fake notes. During the investigation, police identified two more accused – Pratap Dhumal and Ashok Bhimraj Darakunde – who are absconding. The accused allegedly purchased the counterfeit notes for ₹ 25,000 from a person identified only as ‘Ammu’, a resident of Malegaon in Nashik district, police said. A case was registered at the MIDC police station under sections 179, 180, 318(4) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 3(2) of the Maharashtra Anti-Superstition and Black Magic Act.
A Crime Branch team was gathering information about illegal activities within the MIDC police station jurisdiction when it received information that Shewale and his associates allegedly possessed counterfeit Indian currency, according to the police. Santosh Mutkule, Crime branch Inspector, Ahilyanagar police, said, “During questioning, Shewale said that the counterfeit notes had been procured from three other persons. The accused used the fake notes to cheat people by claiming they could make money “rain” by exploiting their belief in supernatural practices.
