AI image
Nagpur: A counterfeit currency network is under scrutiny of multiple investigating agencies after Wathoda police seized 1,600 fake ₹500 notes of more than ₹37 lakh from a rented flat at Three Star Society in Chaitanya Nagar on Saturday. Top police officers dashed to the police station as investigators attempted to trace the prime suspect, Pushpam Bhandane, 29, who claimed to be from Trimurti Nagar, but had taken a flat on rent in a Wadhoda locality on September 26 last year. What triggered the police raid was a minor tenancy dispute that snowballed into a case of a probable economic terror plot. The flat owner Ramesh Harde reportedly grew suspicious of his activities and asked him to vacate the premises. Bhandane did not pay rent for two months and his refusal to vacate prompted the landlord to approach Wathoda police. When a police team reached the apartment, they found the door locked. Attempts by the landlord to contact the tenant received only a brief response, before his mobile phone went dead. A major focus of the investigation is establishing the suspect’s identity. Police are attempting to determine whether Bhandane is his actual name, whether identity documents and credentials furnished by him in the rent agreement are authentic. Investigators are also trying to establish his last known location and trace his movements. Mumbai police has been alerted to coordinate efforts to locate him.