Chhattisgarh: Naxals printing, using fake currency to dupe tribals, say police

Security forces for the first time recovered a huge cache of fake currency notes belonging to naxalites

Sukma: Security forces have for the first time recovered a huge cache of fake currency notes belonging to naxalites and equipment used to print them in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district, a senior police official said on Sunday.

According to the police, naxalites were allegedly using the fake currency notes in weekly markets of interior areas of Bastar region for a long time and duping innocent tribals.

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Naxalites were also trying to destabilise the Indian economy with this move, Sukma Superintendent of Police Kiran G Chavan claimed. The recovery was made on Saturday evening on a forested hill near Korajguda village of the district when a joint team of security personnel from various forces was out on a search operation, he said, without specifying the exact face value of the fake currency.

“For the first time, fake currency notes belonging to naxalites have been recovered in the State which has been struggling with the menace for more than three decades,” Chavan said terming the seizure as a crucial success in the anti-naxal operation.

Personnel belonging to the Central Reserve Police Force’s 50th battalion, District Reserve Guard (DRG), Bastar Fighters and district force were involved in the operation which was launched based on inputs that Konta area committee of Naxalites was engaged in printing fake notes in Mailasur, Korajguda and Danteshpuram areas of Sukma, he said.

On sensing the presence of security personnel near Korajguda, Naxalites escaped into a dense forest leaving behind their belongings, the official said. During a search of the site, the security personnel recovered a cache of fake notes in the denominations of Rs 50, Rs 100, Rs 200 and Rs 500, a coloured printing machine, a black and white printer, an inverter machine, 200 bottles of ink, four cartridges of printer machine, nine printer rollers, six wireless sets, its charger and batteries, he said.

Two muzzle loading guns, a huge cache of explosives, other materials and Naxal ‘uniforms’ were also seized, Chavan said. “Prima facie it was found that naxalites were engaged in printing fake notes in huge quantities. Further investigation suggested that in 2022, naxalites in west Bastar division area gave training of printing fake notes to one or two members of each of their area committees,” he said.

The continuous anti-naxal operations have choked the funding chain of ultras, he said. “Under pressure and due to shortage of funds, naxalites have been trying to use fake notes for procurement of various items in the weekly markets of the region’s interior pockets and duping local tribal vendors,” he said. Further investigation in this connection is underway, he added.