The Special Investigation Team (SIT), formed to probe the prevalence of fake stamp papers in the city, has arrested five persons who are allegedly part of a ring. Police have also recovered 663 fake empty stamp papers and 136 franked fake stamp papers of a total face value of ₹63.57 lakh of various denominations ranging from ₹2 to ₹25,000.
Acting on a tip-off that fake stamp papers were being sold on the premises of the city civil court and magistrate courts, four special teams put dealers under surveillance, went as decoys, and bought fake stamp papers. After confirmation, teams raided the houses of the accused on November 13 and arrested five persons.
Police also recovered seals in the name of State Bank of Mysore, two screen printing machines used to print the fake stamp papers and 233 empty papers with the watermark ‘Government of India’ among other incriminating evidence.
The gang had allegedly forged fake stamp papers from the time of 2005-2020, and was selling them in the range of ₹3000-₹10,000 per document. These predated fake stamp papers are used in the realty sector to forge fake documents of disputed properties, sources said.
City Police Commissioner Kamal Pant has announced a reward of ₹50,000 for the team that cracked the case.
