“Both of them sell fake currency notes to unscrupulous elements for further putting them into circulation in the course of normal transactions,” said DCP Manoj C, Special Cell.

The officer said that the notes were then put to use in weekly markets among unsuspecting local vendors. Densely populated localities were selected, so that the chances of notes reaching formal banking channels remains low, he explained.

According to the police, Haryana native Anil was once a truck driver who took up the role of a fake currency courier boy during his trips and landed in police net in 2015 in a counterfeit currency case,for which he was imprisoned for two years.

“While as a truck driver, Anil learnt the manufacturing process of fake currency notes, and started printing and supplying them across states. He was again arrested in a rape case at Mundaka Police station in 2019 and was then sent to Tihar jail,” said an official.

Chhotu, a native of Sonipat who lives in Delhi, has six cases of robbery, dacoity and kidnapping registered against him in Delhi and Haryana, the police said. He was sent to Tihar jail for the crime, they added.

After coming out on bail in 2022, Chhotu joined Anil’s FICN racket as his fruit business was not doing good. The police recovered paper sheets to make fake currency notes, green foil sheets used as ‘security thread’ in the counterfeit notes and printer to imprint FICNs from Anil’s house in Jhajjar, Haryana. Motorcycle used for the crime has also been recovered. Further investigation into the racket is underway, the police said.