Nagpur man, 29, held for printing fake notes worth Rs 37 lakh on colour printer

Nagpur Police have arrested a 29-year-old man on charges of printing counterfeit currency. According to police, fake notes worth Rs 37 lakh were seized from his rented room. The accused has been identified as Pushpam Krishna Bandane, a resident of Trimurtinagar.

Police arrested him on Sunday night. A court has sent the accused to police custody till October 30.

Besides the fake notes worth Rs 37 lakh, partially printed notes, valued at Rs 48 lakh, were also found in the room. The accused had used a colour printer to print the notes.

In Nagpur district, it is believed that if one "manifests", that is, asks for something with complete devotion, one receives it. According to police, Pushpam believes in God and was influenced by the concept of "manifesting", which involves fixing a wish or goal in the mind and achieving it. He thought that the more money there was in the house, the more money would be drawn to it. With this thinking, he took a rented room and began printing fake notes. However, this was only the accused's alleged thinking, and there is no proven link between manifesting and printing counterfeit notes or attracting money.

Pushpam had a control shop in Ashirwad Nagar, which later shut down. After that, he had also pawned the gold at home. The investigation found that he had bought the colour printer from Amazon. It has also emerged that the reams of paper used for printing the notes were brought from the Mahal area.

Police are now examining the accused's bank accounts. Details of the printer and other material bought online are also being gathered. Police are also trying to establish how many notes he printed in all, whether he tried to circulate them anywhere, and whether anyone else was involved.

After the counterfeit notes were seized, the case was also reported to the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB). Both agencies are trying to find out whether the accused was in contact with any other person or suspicious network.