Sonepur: Police seized counterfeit currency notes worth Rs 8.47 lakh and arrested two persons following a late-night operation near the State Bank of India’s main branch in Sonepur town, officials said Wednesday.
Acting on a tip-off about the racket, a police team led by Town Police Station IIC Yadav Bag intensified patrolling in the area Tuesday night.
During checks, sub-inspector Anil Behera intercepted a black Scorpio Classic S11 (OD34Z-1919).
A search of a blue bag inside the vehicle led to the recovery of bundles of counterfeit Rs 500 notes.
Addressing a presser held at the district police headquarters, Superintendent of Police Narayan Nayak said the notes could be identified as fake even on visual inspection, with identical serial numbers printed as “00 00 00”.
A total of 1,695 counterfeit notes of the Rs 500 denomination were seized, amounting to Rs 8,47,500. The accused were identified as Abhilash Purushottam Satpathy, 21, of Jakhapura area in Jajpur district, and Prashant Das, 34, of Mardarajpur under Khandapada police limits in Nayagarh district.
Police also seized the vehicle and two mobile phones from their possession.
A case (126/26) has been registered at the Sonepur police station.
Preliminary investigation suggests links of the racket to Bargarh district and neighbouring Chhattisgarh, Nayak said, adding that further probe is underway to identify other persons involved and assess the scale of circulation.
The seized notes will be sent to the Reserve Bank of India’s regional office in Kolkata for examination.
The case is being investigated by SI Sukanta Jena.
Frequent recovery of counterfeit notes from different parts of the district has raised concerns among residents.
Additional SP KK Hariprasad was also present at the press briefing.