Indore (Madhya Pradesh) [India], April 15 (ANI): Indore Crime Branch has busted a counterfeit currency printing gang and arrested five accused, three from Indore and two from Bhopal, an official said on Tuesday.

The crime branch team also recovered counterfeit notes of Rs 500 denomination with the face value of Rs 4.35 lakh and various accessories, including printers, butter paper, cutting machines, lamination rolls, and laptop and mobile phones from their procession, he added.

Among the accused, three accused were arrested from a hotel room in Indore, who are residents of Chhindwara district and two individual, residents of Bhopal, were arrested from the state capital.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP, Crime Branch), Rajesh Kumar Tripathi, said, 'Acting on a tip-off from a hotel, three accused who were staying there for around one and a half months were arrested. The trio identified as Abdul Shoaib alias Chhotu (25), Rahees Khan (32) and Praful Kumar Kori (19), residents of Chhindwara district. Upon searching the room, we found a bundle of 100 counterfeit notes of Rs 500 in a bag and many equipment related to printing notes which include butter paper, cutting machine, lamination roll, laptop, mobiles, etc.'

During interrogation, the trio confessed to making counterfeit notes and circulating them in the market with their two associates living in Bhopal. Based on this information, the crime branch nabbed the two people, identified as Akash Ghaaru (30) and Shankar Chaurasia (42), from Bhopal and recovered 770 fake Rs 500 notes worth 3.85 lakh from their possession, DCP Triphathi said.

He further said, 'The accused said that they were unemployed and were printing and supplying fake notes, aiming to earn money. They had learned to print fake notes by joining a group on Facebook and from a person from Gujarat.'

Further investigation into the matter is underway, he added (ANI).