Bengaluru: Police bust gang that tampered with serial numbers of Rs 2,000 notes to con people
Bengaluru (PTI): The Bengaluru police have busted a 10-member gang that allegedly tampered with the serial numbers of Rs 2,000 currency notes "to sell them" to gullible people at exorbitant prices, promising them that performing a "money rain ritual" using the notes of a specific serial number would be a boon and multiply their wealth, an official said on Tuesday.
The action followed a complaint filed by a manager of Reserve Bank of India at Halasuru Gate Police Station on October 17, and Rs 18 lakh worth Rs 2,000 denomination notes were seized from the gang, police said.
The complaint states, the gang tampered with the serial number of currency notes of Rs 2,000 denomination to give them a serial number that was already withdrawn from circulation by the RBI. A case was booked based on the complaint, they added.
Bengaluru Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh told reporters that the RBI says notes are original but the serial numbers are tampered with.
The gang sold the number-altered notes for Rs 4 lakh a piece, promising that performing a ritual using the notes of a specific serial number would bestow them good fortune and they would get "100-times more money", he added.
"The accused have been arrested at different stages. They confessed that they cheated their victims, saying that if they had Rs 2,000 currency notes bearing a specific number, they would get a boon," the officer explained.
The first breakthrough happened on October 24 when the police arrested a person at his residence at Cubbonpet.
"Upon interrogation, the accused confessed to having deposited Rs 40,000 at the bank, stating that he had received the money from two acquaintances who had promised him a commission. These two persons were traced and apprehended near Mysore Bank Circle on the same day," says a statement from the police.
However police did not elaborate on what was the role of this person in this web of crime.
More people were arrested from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh based on further investigation, he said.
"During interrogation, they confessed that they had cheated the public by falsely claiming that if they performed a special ritual using Rs 2,000 notes (except the "O", "OO", "OP", and "OU" series printed in 2018 with consecutive serial numbers withdrawn from circulation), it would multiply the money a hundredfold and cause a ‘rain of money’,” Singh said.
Our investigation team recovered Rs 18 lakh worth Rs 2,000 denomination notes, he added.
"All the accused provided information about the person who tampered with the serial numbers, note series, and printed year on the notes as per their requests. The individual was traced and apprehended from his residence in Yeshwanthpur on the same day. From his possession, Rs 2,000 denomination notes and equipment used for tampering with the note details were seized,” police said.
On November 3, all 10 accused involved in the case were produced in a court, which remanded them to judicial custody, police said, adding that a woman involved in the crime is still absconding, and efforts are on to trace her.
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Death toll in attack on Kyiv apartment building now stands at 24
Kyiv (AP): Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that a Russian missile attack on a Kyiv apartment building the previous day killed 24 people, including what local officials said were three teenagers.
Emergency workers finished digging through the building's rubble after more than a day, Zelenskyy said on X.
The cruise missile hit the nine-story corner block during what the Ukrainian air force said was Russia's biggest barrage of the country since its all-out invasion.
The assault mostly targeted the Ukrainian capital, where 48 people were wounded, including two children, Zelenskyy said.
Russia hammered Ukraine with large-scale aerial attacks in the days following a May 9-11 ceasefire that US President Donald Trump said he asked Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to observe. Fighting went on over those 72 hours, although reportedly on a lesser scale.
This week's attacks ran counter to recent suggestions from Trump and Putin that the war, now in its fifth year, is close to ending.
Zelenskyy said Thursday that Moscow had launched more than 1,560 drones against Ukrainian population centres since Wednesday. In all, some 180 sites across the country were damaged, including more than 50 residential buildings, he said.
Previously, the biggest Russian drone attack was from the evening of March 23 to the evening of March 24 when Moscow's forces fired nearly 1,000 drones and missiles at Ukraine.
Ukraine has also built up significant long-range capabilities, and Russia's Defense Ministry said Friday that air defences downed 355 drones overnight in one of the largest Ukrainian drone attacks of the war.
Several airports suspended flights overnight because of the attacks.
Also, a Ukrainian drone attack on Ryazan, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) southeast of Moscow, killed four people, including a child, Ryazan Governor Pavel Malkov said.
After the attack, massive plumes of black smoke spewed from a fire at a local oil refinery. Ukraine has targeted Russian oil facilities in an effort to deny vital export revenue for Moscow and rattle the Kremlin.
Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment about the Ryazan strike.
The Ukrainian capital observed an official day of mourning Friday in remembrance of those killed Thursday, and Zelenskyy visited the site.
The cruise missile that hit the apartment building was built in the second quarter of this year, Zelenskyy said, apparently after Ukrainian experts analyzed the wreckage.
“This means Russia is still importing the components, resources and equipment necessary for missile production in circumvention of global sanctions,” Zelenskyy said in another post on X late Thursday.
“Stopping Russia's sanctions evasion schemes must be a genuine priority for all our partners,” he said.
Russia and Ukraine have continued to occasionally swap prisoners of war, and 205 from each country returned home Friday.
Zelenskyy said it was the first phase of a planned 1,000-for-1,000 prisoner swap. Some of the Ukrainians released had been held in Russian captivity since 2022, he said, and had fought in some of the war's fiercest battles.
Russia's Defence Ministry confirmed the exchange and thanked the United Arab Emirates for helping broker it.
