Are your Rs 20 coins real? How police unravelled a multi-city counterfeit scam

It takes 3,50,00,000 twenty-rupee coins to make Rs 70 crore, and a counterfeit coin manufacturing racket operating out of Haryana, Delhi, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand has allegedly circulated as many, if not more, of these coins in the Indian market.

As part of the racket, a small group of men had been running a unit in Haryana’s Sonipat district for around 10 months, ostensibly manufacturing screwdrivers. Then, on September 13, the Saharanpur Police in Uttar Pradesh intercepted five of the men and recovered six heavy machines from them.

The group was in the process of moving the equipment from Sonipat to Uttar Pradesh to avoid detection when they were arrested, police say. Only then was it revealed that they were not manufacturing screwdrivers but counterfeit Rs 20 coins.

The bust comes amid a rise in counterfeit banknotes detected in India, from 2,17,396 in 2024-25 to 2,29,746 in 2025-26. While these figures relate to banknotes, the Saharanpur case highlights the scale of the manufacture and circulation of counterfeit coins.

Unlike banknotes, which are issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), coins are minted by the Government of India under the Coinage Act, 2011, at government units in Mumbai, Kolkata, Noida and Hyderabad. The RBI is responsible for putting the coins into circulation.

As counterfeit notes are under constant scrutiny of law enforcement agencies across the country, counterfeit coins have emerged as a new avenue for criminals. The accused claimed to have circulated fake coins worth more than Rs 70 crore, a figure police are yet to verify.

The Saharanpur raid followed earlier counterfeit-coin manufacturing busts in Delhi and Haryana in 2016 and 2019. Under the law, producing fake currency is an offence that can invite a maximum of life imprisonment. It was an informer who had alerted the Saharanpur police that three men were looking for a space of around 500 square feet.

They wanted to install six heavy machines, ostensibly to manufacture tools. The informer also described the men as suspicious. Police intercepted the men in the Titron area: Upkar Luthra alias Abhay Pratap Singh, 62; and Himanshu alias Gullu from Saharanpur and Kuldeep from Muzaffarnagar, both in their 30s.

When they questioned the three, it emerged that two of their associates — Santosh Chaurasia alias Janardhan of Madhubani in Bihar, and Anurag Pal alias Lankesh of Sant Ravidas Nagar in UP — were waiting at a nearby crossing in separate four-wheelers.

Police rushed to the spot, apprehended them, and recovered the heavy machinery from inside the two vehicles. They also found 6,400 counterfeit Rs 20 coins, with a face value of Rs 1.28 lakh, semi-finished coins estimated to be worth around Rs 5 lakh.

The group, police say, had been operating out of Sonipat until one of its associates was arrested by the Delhi Police. Fearing a raid, Upkar and the others shut down the Sonipat unit, which had served as a front for manufacturing screwdrivers, an officer tells The Indian Express.

In their haste to move the equipment, the accused had not scouted for a new location, police say. According to police, Upkar told investigators that Himanshu had assured him he would arrange land in Saharanpur. The group travelled there on that assurance to look for suitable premises.