The notes were found in two boxes. The building built by the Public Works Department was allotted to the Revenue Department. It is dilapidated and is no longer used by the staff.
The initial suspicion was that the notes were to be used to lure voters, by mixing them with real currency notes. But a closer look at the notes and the claim of the accused that they were being used for shooting a film, made the officials think again.
The 24 fake notes looked like colour photo-copies of ₹ 2,000 notes. But the other bundles were interesting. They included 292 bundles of notes that looked like ₹ 2,000 notes, but had Rs. zero as the denomination. They were printed by the ‘Children Bank’ and not the RBI. There were 153 bundles modelled on ₹ 500 notes and 15 bundles of notes that look like ₹ 1,000 notes. All have zero denomination.
If fake and duplicate notes were to be valid notes, they would amount to around ₹ 7 crore. If they were to be valid, it would have been the biggest cache of notes seized in the State before elections. Since the announcement of elections, officials have seized ₹ 4.4 crore in cash in the district in over 26 cases.
Following some clues, a team led by Deputy Commissioner of Police S.B. Patil arrested Ajit Kumar Channappa Nidoni of Vijayapura who now lives in Belagavi. He has been accused of some offences, including circulating fake currencies in the past.
Commissioner of Police D.C. Rajappa, told presspersons later that he suspected the fake and duplicate notes were to be meant for distribution to voters in the coming elections.
However, the accused, Ajit Kumar, said he was a film-maker and he was using the duplicate notes for the film tentatively titled ‘15 Seconds’. The film is being shot in Gokak in Belagavi district now. Prakash Rao from Bengaluru is the director of the movie, according to the accused.
“Such duplicates are freely available in fairs and toy shops. Children use them to play games. We are stacking the photocopies of real notes on top of the bundles and keeping the others below them to make them look like real notes,’’ Ajit Kumar told investigators during preliminary interrogation.
Mr. Rajappa, however, is not convinced. “I have heard the claim, but it is difficult to believe him,’’ the Commissioner said. “First of all, he has printed 24 fake currency notes, which is a clear offence. Secondly, why did the accused keep them in an unused government quarters? That raises suspicions. Anyway, investigation will reveal the truth,’’ he said.
A poll duty officer, who was part of the team that raided the house, said circulation of fake or duplicate currency before elections was not rare. “In some constituencies, leaders have distributed such notes among voters on the eve of polling in past elections,’’ he said. “Such notes are used to adulterate real money, by inserting them into bundles of real notes, and trick them. Voters will realise that they have conned, only after casting votes the next day. And there is nothing much they can do.’’
“But the offenders are very careful while distributing such notes. They give them only to men, especially when they are drunk. They will be in such a condition that they will be unable to distinguish between real and fake notes and the offenders get away with it,’’ a surveillance squad member said.
He, however, is willing to consider the possibility that the whole thing is a hoax and the duplicate notes were truly being used for film shooting. “We need to spend two or three days with the accused. We will know the truth only then,’’ he said.
The case registered in the APMC police station charges the accused and his unknown associates of violating election rules under section 123 of the Representation of the People Act and section 489 of Indian Penal Code relating to possession and circulation of counterfeit currency.
(With Inputs from TH)
