Sakleshpur:  Sakleshpur Rural Police, have cracked a fake currency printing and circulating racket by arrested four persons including two from K.R. Nagar and have seized fake currencies worth about Rs. 13,000 and equipment used to print fake currencies from them.

The arrested are Iliyas and Sulaiman of Nelyadi village in Dakshina Kannada and Kiran of Bettaganahalli and Santosh of Hanumanahalli, both in K.R. Nagar taluk of Mysuru District.

Sakleshpur Rural Police were conducting checking of vehicles at Maranahalli Out Post in the taluk, when they stopped a Maruti Omni van in which the accused were travelling to Mangaluru along with a few currency notes. When the Police asked them to produce the vehicle documents, the accused in the van who hesitated, got down from the van and tried to flee from the spot leaving behind the vehicle.

While a few Police personnel chased and caught the fleeing accused, a few Police personnel, who were near the van, checked the vehicle and found three fake currency notes of Rs.500 with the same serial number in the dashboard of the van. When the Cops searched the accused, they found two fake Rs.2,000 notes and 15 fake Rs.100 currencies.

During interrogation, the accused revealed that they had produced one fake Rs. 2,000 note at a shop and had bought cigarettes and had given another fake Rs. 2,000 note at a hotel in Maranahalli after having lunch and had obtained change.

The Cops, who then raided the house of Kiran, have seized the equipment used for the printing of fake currencies.