They pumped Rs 50cr fake coins into India

TOI: Jul 07 2017 : The Times of India (Delhi)
New Delhi:
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kingpin Operating From Nepal Held In Haryana
The mastermind of a fake coin syndicate has been arrested with around 8,500 counterfeit coins in denominations of Rs 5 and Rs 10. Upkar Luthra, arrested by the Special Cell from Kundli in Haryana on Tuesday , was operating out of Nepal.

The gang, working across north India, was behind minting and circulating fake coins with the face value of around Rs 50 crore in the past few years. Luthra was also allegdly involved in the murder of his business partner and had a reward of Rs 1 lakh on his head. In October 2016, the police busted the gang and arrested two men named Gulshan Gambhir and Sachin. Its factories were raided and fake coins with the face value of more than Rs 6 lakh in denomination of Rs 5 and Rs 10 were seized.

The probe revealed the names of Luthra brothers who were running the synidcate. In December, the cell arrested Sweekar, one of the brothers who ran the gang from India, and found coun terfeit coins with the face value of Rs 17,390 on him. Since then, Special Cell teams had been camping in several areas, including the Nepal border, to track the kingpin.

“On July 4, ACP Akhilesh Yadav's team received a tipoff that Upkar had shifted to Kundli in Haryana and had started his business in Delhi and other states. The team raided his hotel and arrested him,“ said DCP (special cell) Sanjeev Yadav. Upkar told the police that he had got the idea from one Gulshan Gambhir of Dehradun whom he met in 1997. After learning the nitty-gritty of the trade, he started working from Nangli Sakrawati in Delhi.

In 1999, he was arrested at Connaught Place, released and re-arrested. By 2009, the Luthra brothers became a known name in the fake currency circle. “They roped in a partner, Ramesh Verma, and set up a factory in Uttam Nagar. But Verma soon became a threat to the Luthra brothers. Upkar then hired contrct killers and got Verma bumped off,“ Yadav said.

According to Upkar, the gang bought several machinery such as a hydraulic machine, grindingkharad machine, lathe machine and a surface grinder, and converted a house in JJ clusters into makeshift factory. It got raw material like metallic sheets from Mayapuri and Tilka Nagar. Upkar had already learnt to make dyes of counterfeit coins and taught a few others in the gang as well.The coins were coated with anti-rust spray to give them a real look.

The manufactured coins were then circulated through toll tax centers, weekly markets and small shopkeepers in various parts of Delhi, Rajasthan and Haryana.

Just seeing the Obverse side may not tell whether a coin is fake or not. However the illustration by TOI is slightly misleading. The Govt has issued the design shown as "Fake" from 2008 to 2010 till the Rupee Symbol was adopted. It then changed the design in 2011.

The Original Coins are  

The fake coins are of the design below