Kolkata Police bust fake currency racket, arrest 4 in Burrabazar, Howrah
Kolkata Police have arrested two men in Burrabazar for allegedly carrying counterfeit currency bundles with a purported value of Rs 20 lakh, leading investigators to a suspected counterfeiting unit in neighbouring Howrah.
The arrests were made near the Strand Road–Mirbahar Ghat Street crossing following a tip-off from a confidential source. The accused have been identified as Vijaypal Tanwar, alias Arvind, 23, and Shiva Thapa, 24.
During a search, police recovered a backpack carried by Tanwar containing four bundles designed to resemble packages of high-value currency. Each bundle had genuine Rs 500 notes placed on the top and bottom, with 998 pieces of white paper cut to the size of currency notes sandwiched between them.
The bundles carried forged ICICI Bank labels indicating a value of Rs 5 lakh each, putting their purported total at Rs 20 lakh. However, the actual genuine currency recovered amounted to just Rs 4,000.
A case was registered at Burrabazar Police Station on October 27, 2026, under Case No. 171 of 2026.PROBE LEADS POLICE TO HOWRAH
During interrogation, the two arrested men allegedly provided information that led investigators to Howrah, where two more men — Sunil Kumar Verma, 47, and Gopal Gujjar, 24 — were taken into custody.
Police recovered equipment suspected to have been used in the counterfeit operation, including a printer, a paper-rim cutter, two boxes of bond paper, a cello tape machine, scissors and ink cartridges.
The recovery points to a suspected setup for preparing counterfeit currency bundles, with investigators probing the operation and the possible involvement of others.- Ends
Tapas Sengupta is a senior investigative journalist based in Kolkata, also reports actively on socio-political issues, human rights violations, and conflict across India. He is a Defence Correspondent and having experience of covering major conflicts across all the borders of India since last 17 years. He is an experienced broadcast journalist
