In one of the biggest hauls of its kind, counterfeit stamp papers with face value of Rs 107 crore were seized and 16 gang members involved in printing and circulating them arrested by Bihar Police in Patna district.
Senior Superintendent of Police Manu Maharaj told reporters today that police arrested mastermind Ranjit Kumar during a raid at an apartment at Patrakar Nagar here following a tip off.
Three others were also arrested during the operation and fake judicial stamps with face value of Rs two crore in denominations ranging from Rs 10 to Rs 20,000 were seized from them yesterday, he said.
Based on their confessions, police searched yet another house at Khemnichak and unearthed fake stamp papers with a face value of Rs 100 crore the same night. Besides, equipment like computers, printers, cutting machines, dyes and printing blocks used for printing the security thread on fake non-judicial stamp papers, Kisan Credit Cards, National Savings Certificates, bank cheques, postal stamps and court tickets were seized, Maharaj said.
Seven persons were arrested from the spot for printing fake judicial stamps and related materials, the SSP said.
Fake stamp papers with face value of Rs five crore were seized in yet another raid at a flat in another apartment at Patrakar Nagar. Scanners, ink used for printing prototype of stamps and sheets were also recovered.
Maharaj said five persons were arrested apartment.
More fake stamp papers, postal tickets, printed envelopes of State Bank of India, besides printing machines, computers, printers, scanners and other equipment used for printing the counterfeits were recovered from yet another house in Bahadur police station area, he said.
With the operation, Bihar police foiled a bid by the gang to circulate counterfeit currency notes during the coming festival season, he claimed adding the arrested gang members had confessed that they had already sold fake stamp papers in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal through vendors.
