Police bust counterfeit currency racket in Butwal

BUTWAL: Police have arrested six individuals from a rented house in Butwal, Rupandehi, on charges of printing counterfeit Nepali currency.

They also seized 622 units of Rs 1,000 banknotes along with equipment allegedly used in the production.

The suspects had been operating from two rooms rented from Bal Kumari Gharti Magar at Jitgadhi in Ward No. 13 of Butwal Sub-metropolitan City, police say.

Those arrested have been identified as Ganga Kumari Purvachhane (36) of Rupandehi, Kiran Krishna Tiwari of Kaski, Sanjay Tharu of Kapilvastu, Ram Chandra Khatri (41) of Bhaktapur, Pasang Tamang (38) of Dolakha and Basumitra Anand (49) of Siliguri, India.

According to DSP Nishant Srivastava of the Butwal Area Police Office, a search of the rented rooms led to the seizure of 622 counterfeit Nepali banknotes of Rs 1,000 denomination.

Police also recovered a photocopy machine, a laptop, a printer, a carton of paper allegedly used to print fake banknotes, a laminating machine, various chemicals, plastic sheets, a note-cutting machine and six mobile phones.

The arrests were made during an investigation codenamed Operation Charlie, which the police launched after receiving a complaint from a counterfeit note victim.

According to police, the investigation was launched after Ganga Kumari Purvachhane requested the victim to transfer Rs 2,100 to her through a QR payment. In return, she handed over two Rs 1,000 notes and one Rs 100 note in cash.

When the victim later attempted to use the money to buy some stuff, both Rs 1,000 notes were found to be counterfeit and carried the identical serial number 663411.

The victim subsequently filed a complaint at the Butwal Area Police Office on July 12.

Based on the complaint, a joint team from the Lumbini Province Police Office, Rupandehi District Police Office and Butwal Area Police Office launched an investigation under Operation Charlie.

Police first arrested Purvachhane and recovered 103 counterfeit Rs 1,000 notes during a search of her residence.

Further investigation revealed the involvement of Kiran Krishna Tiwari of Kaski. He was arrested with the assistance of the District Police Office, Kaski. Another 478 counterfeit Rs 1,000 notes were recovered from his possession.

Subsequent investigation established the involvement of Ram Chandra Khatri. Following his arrest, police uncovered the counterfeit printing operation from the rented rooms in Jitgadhi, Butwal.