2 held in Belagavi with fake currencies

BELAGAVI: Police on Tuesday arrested two persons for allegedly printing and circulating fake currencies in denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000.
City police commissioner DC Rajappa told reporters the case will be handed over the CID since face value of the seized fake banknotes is more than Rs 1 crore. Based on a tipoff, police arrested Asif Shaikh and Mohammad Rafiq Desai near Channamma Cooperative Credit Society in the city when they were exchanging bags loaded with counterfeit banknotes.
Rajappa said Asif Shaikh, who recently returned from Dubai, was said to be good at printing technology and used to print notes at home after designing them on easy-to-download computer apps.Police have seized a laptop and colour printer along with 4,969 fake notes of Rs 2,000 denomination and 195 fake notes of Rs 500 denominations, and two scooters used in the fraud. The police commissioner said the accused tried to print notes of Rs 50 and Rs 100 denominations, but abandoned it because the design and colour combination were too complex to copy.
In the garb of social worker?
Mohammad Rafiq Desai, one of the two arrested in the case, used to run Sarva Dharma Sena, a nonprofit, and serve free food to about 100 persons in the labour ward of BIMS Government Hospital every day until a couple of months ago. Interestingly, Desai used to run a WhatsApp group — Ham Sab Ek Hai — which had the deputy commissioner and police officers as members. He was often seen in protests and agitations in front of government offices. Police sources said Desai faces criminal cases, including an attack on government officials. In March, a group of people stripped him, smeared tar on him and garlanded him with footwear before taking him around the town for allegedly cheating people on the promise of getting them government houses.