Close on the heels of police seizing fake adhesive stamps worth Rs 72 lakh from a dump in Nashik, a television channel in a sting operation on Monday claimed to have unearthed another dump of stamps and foreign currency notes in the temple town.
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The channel claimed that the dump belonged to Prasoon Agarwal alias Abhay Bansal and was located in a house adjacent to the premises from where the Rs 72 lakh worth fake stamps were seized. The Special Investigation Team has arrested Agarwal in connection with that seizure.
ZEE News ran the story showing its reporter entering through a broken window of a house and filming stacked piles purportedly of stamps and currency belonging to different countries. The video also showed a huge quantity of stamps belonging to different countries and rolls of stamp paper and printing machinery as well.
A release from the TV channel in Delhi said it was not immediately known whether the currency and stamps were original or fake. The currencies were from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Netherlands, Zambia and other countries.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, who also holds the home portfolio, said he was unaware of the dump. The Maharashtra police said it was looking into the matter.
After the television channel broadcast the footage, a police team, led by city police chief P T Lohar, arrived at the bungalow, named Padma, and seized 90-100 cartons containing currencies of several countries, including Pakistan, Somalia and Brazil, Czechoslovakia and Argentina besides some Indian currency.
The police summoned officials of the State Bank of India, India Security Press and Currency Note Press to identify the currency, Lohar told reporters.
