Karnataka: 8 arrested for 'black note' currency fraud in Belgavi

Belagavi (Karnataka) [India], March 17 (ANI): Police in Karnataka's Belgavi district have arrested eight persons, including two police constables from Maharashtra, for allegedly tricking people by using chemicals and black paint to transform plain white paper into what appeared to be genuine currency notes.
The Gokak City police on Tuesday raided a house near the Hanuman temple in Gokak city, and busted the gang. One person is still at large, they said.

As per Superintendent of Police K Ramarajan, "In the Gokak police station limits of Belgaum district, 'money doubling' criminals were arrested. This crime involved property cheating. Three accused from Gokak were in touch with an individual named Jayashri Babu from Maharashtra, who used forgeries to cheat people. This time, they used a 'black note' scam."
He further stated that the arrested deployed a simple modus operandi- of taking original currency notes and applying black chemical ink to them.
"They dry it so it looks like plain black paper. In front of an innocent victim, they show a piece of black paper and claim that if you heat it and put it in a specific chemical solution, it turns into original currency. They use a heating machine and the solution to demonstrate this using an actual note they had previously coated," SP Ramarajan said.
The police official added, "The victim is led to believe the black paper magically becomes currency. In reality, it was always a real note. The criminals then sell bundles of actual black paper (which are not currency) at a 1:4 ratio.
"For example, for ₹50,000 from the victim, they promise ₹2 lakh worth of 'magic' paper. They convinced the victims that these were 'magic notes.' Disturbingly, two police constables from Maharashtra were involved: Anand Prakash Narwade from Thane and Diladar Abanishek from Palghar," the senior police official said.
He further said that the others arrested in the case were identified as Parashuram Bhimsi Badakari (Gokak), Jayashri Babu Kamble (Mumbai), Manisha Raju Gaikwad (Ahmednagar), and Ujwal Tulsiram Bilane (Jalgaon).
"In total, eight criminals were involved; seven have been arrested, and one local criminal is still at large. We seized the heating machine, the solution, and the black papers. Our local sub-inspector, Kiran Mohit, received information and responded immediately. One of the accused, Parashuram, was also involved in three previous robbery cases. Investigation continues," the SP added. (ANI)