Security forces have for the first time recovered a huge cache of fake currency notes belonging to Naxalites and equipment used to print them in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district, a senior police official said on Sunday. According to the police, Naxalites were allegedly using the fake currency notes in weekly markets of interior areas of Bastar region for a long time and duping innocent tribals.

Naxalites were also trying to destabilise the Indian economy with this move, Sukma Superintendent of Police Kiran G Chavan claimed. The recovery was made on Saturday evening on a forested hill near Korajguda village of the district when a joint team of security personnel from various forces was out on a search operation, he said, without specifying the exact face value of the fake currency. “For the first time, fake currency notes belonging to Naxalites have been recovered in the state which has been struggling with the menace for more than three decades,” Chavan said terming the seizure as a crucial success in the anti-Naxal operation.

Personnel belonging to the Central Reserve Police Force’s 50th battalion, District Reserve Guard (DRG), Bastar Fighters and district force were involved in the operation which was launched based on inputs that Konta area committee of Naxalites was engaged in printing fake notes in Mailasur, Korajguda and Danteshpuram areas of Sukma, he said. On sensing the presence of security personnel near Korajguda, Naxalites escaped into a dense forest leaving behind their belongings, the official said. During a search of the site, the security personnel recovered a cache of fake notes in the denominations of Rs 50, Rs 100, Rs 200 and Rs 500, a coloured printing machine, a black and white printer, an inverter machine, 200 bottles of ink, four cartridges of printer machine, nine printer rollers, six wireless sets, its charger and batteries, he said.