Ahmedabad, March 20 Seven individuals, including a yoga teacher, were remanded in 10-day police custody by a court in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, after being allegedly found in possession of counterfeit Indian currency notes (FICN) worth Rs 2.38 crore, a police official said on Friday.
Yoga teacher Pradip Jotangiya, Mukesh Thummar, Ashok Mavani, Ramesh Bhalar, Divyesh Rana, Bharat Kakadiya, and a woman were apprehended after 42,000 counterfeit Rs 500 notes were seized from a car, while another set of notes were recovered from a house in Surat, he said. The notes were found in a black bag and concealed within a white SUV on Wednesday.
They have been charged under sections 178 (counterfeiting currency), 180 (possession of forged currency), 181 (having instruments to forge currency), and 61(2) (dealing with criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Ahmedabad Crime Branch Inspector SJ Jadeja said.
Police said that Pradip Jotangiya, popularly known as Pradip Guruji, established Shri Satyam Yog Foundation in Kamrej in 2008, and the plan to use FICN emerged after the organization ran out of funds.
The accused, who were associated with the yoga foundation, began printing counterfeit currency four months ago, an official said, adding that Jotangiya had also attempted suicide in 2018 due to a financial dispute in Kamrej.
According to police, Mukesh Thummar led the operation, arranging printers, paper-cutting machines, and obtaining security thread paper resembling RBI markings from Chinese sources through online platforms like Alibaba using digital payment gateways.
Incidentally, the SUV from which the counterfeit notes were seized had a "VVIP" sticker, as well as a plate that read "Shri Satyam Yog Foundation Recognized by Ayush Mantralay, Govt. of India".