Money for nothing, chicks for free

Vijay Upadhyay

Agra. At a time when fake currency is in ample circulation in the market, probably the most interesting use of this currency was seen in Agra, when a local youth used a fake bank note to finance his sexual urge but was caught before he could succeed in his plan.

Interrogation of the youth and his associates has revealed that this gang had been circulating fake currency in the local flesh market since a long time but it was only due to a sharp-minded prostitute, that this gang was finally brought to the book.

According to Suresh Panwar, in-charge, Chhatta police station, Mohd Yusuf, a resident of Firozabad district, was a regular visitor of the local brothels in Kashmiri Bazar and for the past several weeks, he had been utilising the services of the prostitutes using a steady supply of fake currency from Nepal to finance his brothel trips.

He said that the local shopkeepers in the area had been complaining since a long time about the high turn-up rate of fake Rs 500 notes in the area.

This made the brothel madams aware of the possibility that their clients may be handing them fake notes in return of their services and a decision was reached on monitoring each and every big denomination note being tendered by the clients for a few weeks till the circulation of fake currency was curbed.

Last week, Mohd Yusuf arrived in one of these brothels and after getting serviced by one of the girls here, handed over two Rs 500 notes to the madam who immediately got the notes scanned by a nearby shopkeeper. Upon detection that the notes were fake, she raised an alarm and the shopkeepers from the market caught Yusuf when he was trying to escape.

According to Mr Panwar, Yusuf played the role of the carrier for a fake currency cartel operating from Nepal and used his commission in the form of a share in the fake bank notes in the local sleaze market.

He said that upon interrogation, Yusuf revealed the names of some more members of the cartel, including Mahmood, the head of the "India operations", currently hiding somewhere in Gorakhpur.

According to Mr Panwar, Yusuf had brought fake currency of Rs 8 lakh from Mahmood about a fortnight back that he had given to his brother Idreesh to circulate in Uttar Pradesh, keeping back his commission from the deal.

It was while trying to get rid of the final two notes from the consignment at the brothel that Yusuf finally was nabbed along with his nephew Irshaad. Now, he said, a police team has assembled to raid the hideouts of Mahmood in Gorakhpur and to nab the top gangmen.