PATNA, Sep 25: In a major haul of fake stamp papers reminiscent of the scandal by Abdul Karim Telgi a decade ago, Bihar Police seized counterfeit judicial papers with a face value of Rs 107 crore and arrested 16 persons from various places in Patna district.
Senior Superintendent of Police Manu Maharaj told reporters today that a police team raided an apartment in Patrakarnagar police station area here and seized fake judicial papers with a face value of Rs Rs two crore following specific information.
The mastermind Ranjit Kumar, who hails from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, along with three others were arrested during the operation last night, he said.
A bigger haul of fake stamp papers with a face value of a whopping Rs 100 crore were seized by another team of policemen during searches in yet another house at Khemnichak area conducted following informations given by the gangsters, the SSP said adding seven people were arrested from the spot.
He said arrested gang members revealed that they had already circulated fake stamp papers worth lakhs of rupees in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal through vendors.
The fake stamp papers in denominations of Rs 10, Rs 100, Rs 200, Rs 500, Rs 750 and Rs 20,000 were meant for use in agreement for land registration, apartment registration, affidavit and issuance of power of attorney.
The haul is reminiscent of the multi-crore fake stamp papers scandal by Abdul Karim Telgi in 2002.
The police during its operation in the two houses also seized equipment like computer, printer, dye, cutting machine, printing block ink used for printing the security thread on non-judicial stamp papers, Kisan Credit Cards, National Savings Certificates, bank cheques, postal stamps and court tickets, Maharaj said.
The SSP said after extracting more information from the mastermind and the rest of the gang members, a separate police team was sent to yet another apartment at Patrakar Nagar.
The operation yielded a haul of fake stamp papers with a face value of Rs five crore, besides scanner machines, ink used for printing prototype of stamps and sheets.
Five more persons were arrested from there, Maharaj said.
Large quantity of fake stamp papers, postal tickets and printed envelope of State Bank of India, besides printing machines, computers, printers, scanners and other equipment used for printing fake stamp papers were recovered from yet another house in Bahadur police station area.
None was, however, arrested in this instance.
The SSP claimed that with the operation Bihar Police foiled a bid by the gang to circulate fake currency notes in the market during the coming festive season. (AGENCIES)
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