Ahmedabad, March 24 A yoga teacher from Surat and six others, who were arrested last week for possessing fake Indian currency notes (FICN), are believed to have circulated around Rs 10 to 12 lakh in fake currency, police said on Tuesday.
During interrogation, Pradip Jotangiya, a yoga teacher from Shri Satyam Yog Foundation, and co-accused Mukesh Thummar told police that they printed fake notes for personal gain, according to an official.
The accused were caught with FICN worth Rs 2.38 crore last week.
The Shri Satyam Yog Foundation was not active after 2020, and very few transactions were carried out using its bank account, said inspector S J Jadeja of the Crime Branch.
The seven accused met at the residence of Ashok Mavani about six months ago and decided to print fake currency, he said.
Jotangiya, popularly known as Pradip Guruji, was to receive half the profits, while the rest would be equally distributed among the other six, according to the official.
Jotangiya then travelled to Guangzhou in China in February 2026, and met an agent to purchase high-quality printing machines. He also discussed payments for high-quality security thread paper. The accused sent Rs 17.5 lakh to China through a hawala channel to pay for the machinery and paper, the official said.
"It is likely that they circulated Rs 10-12 lakh of fake currency in the market," said the police official.
Jotangiya, Thummar, Mavani, Ramesh Bhalar, Divyesh Rana, Bharat Kakadiya, and a woman are currently in police custody.