Mumbai, May 30 (PTI) The Mumbai police have seized counterfeit notes carrying the face value of Rs 8.70 lakh and arrested two Telangana natives in Mumbai's Malwani area, officials said on Friday.
The seizure and arrests were made on Thursday night, a police official said.
The accused, Sampat Angpalli (46) and Raheempasha Sheikh (30), hail from different districts in Telangana, he said.
"Police received a tip-off that a car parked on Marve Beach Road in Malwani, had fake notes and other materials. A trap was immediately laid and the accused duo was nabbed," he said.
A total of 1,740 fake notes of Rs 500 denomination with the face value of Rs 8.70 lakh were seized along with equipment, including a printer and a laptop, collectively worth Rs 14.60 lakh, the officials said.
During the probe, police found that the accused used to take Rs 1 lakh from people in exchange of giving counterfeit notes of Rs 5 lakh face value. These people had uploaded several videos with fake notes on Instagram.
Prior to this incident as well, they had visited Mumbai and delivered fake notes, the official said.
"Both the accused were actively circulating the fake notes in the market for the last six years, but were caught for the first time. They were booked under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and further investigation is underway," the official added.