Batala cops nab couple engaged in printing fake currency notes

Ravi Dhaliwal

Batala, April 5

The Batala police today arrested an Amritsar-based couple and recovered fake currency notes worth Rs 30 lakh.

Police sources claimed the cops had been working on the case for the last several weeks and today they followed a concrete lead which led to the arrests.

SSP Ashwini Gotyal said the forward and backward linkages of the case are being probed. “In all probability, we have stumbled on something big. It is just the tip of the iceberg. In the next few days, we intend to make more arrests. We have already identified one of the couple’s accomplice who at present is lodged in Goindwal jail. He will be brought to Batala on a production warrant in the next few days,” she said.

The husband-wife duo has been identified as Sukhbir Singh and Gurinderjit Kaur, both residents of Tarsikka village of Amritsar district.

The SSP said that earlier, Sukhbir used to work in a bank. “He was involved in a Rs 2.50 crore fraud and has already served time in jail. However, old habits die hard and once out of prison, he was back to his old ways. Subsequently, he and his wife started producing counterfeit currency notes. Today, I constituted a special team which raided the couple’s Amritsar house and recovered 10 bundles of high quality white paper, a lamination machine, a coloured printer, paper cutter, a drier and a bunch of wires,” she said.

An officer said two cars were also confiscated from their residence.

SSP Gotyal added that production and distribution of fake currency notes poses a significant risk to the economy. “That is why, we are whole-heartedly working on the case. We are following some leads and we are sure to make more arrests soon,” she said.