Mangaluru: A Kasaragod printing press owner, buried in debt, turned to YouTube tutorials and allegedly printed Rs 500 notes to escape his financial troubles. However, he and three accomplices were caught in the police net in Mangaluru.

Based on a tip-off, the Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the Mangaluru City Police raided a lodge at Hampankatta and seized counterfeit notes with a face value of Rs 2,13,500. The team seized 427 fake Rs 500 notes, said Assistant Commissioner of Police (CCB) Geetha D Kulkarni. The team also seized four mobile phones and Rs 9,030 in genuine currencies from the accused.

Kulkarni identified the arrested persons as V Priyesh (38), a resident of Karicheri village and owner of Sreelipi printing press at Cherkala, a town 7km from Kasaragod; Vinod Kumar K (33) of Muliyar village in Kasaragod; Abdul Khader SA (58) of Kuniya in Kasragod's Periya village; and Ayub Khan (51) of Beliyur Katte in Puttur in Dakshina Kannada district.

The ACP said they suspected Priyesh was the sole manufacturer of the fake notes and the other three helped distribute the notes in Mangaluru. According to reports, Priyesh got Rs 25,000 for every Rs 1 lakh worth of fake currencies he sold.

ACP Kulkarni said Priyesh checked out YouTube videos and bought raw materials from Kozhikode and Delhi, as well as a high-end printing machine for the job. The officer did not comment on the quality of the fake notes.

CCB inspector H M Shyam Sunder told Onmanorama that the notes were printed on 70gsm or grams per square metre of paper. To be sure 70-90 gsm paper is typically used in school notebooks.

When asked whether the notes were easily recognisable as fake by a layman, he said that would depend on the intellect of the layman. "What is important is the notes were counterfeit and we have seized them," he said. Inspector Sunder said Priyesh had been making counterfeit notes of Rs 500 for three to five months.

In a press conference on Monday, Mangaluru City Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal did not display the fake notes. He said Priyesh told the investigators that he was debt-ridden and saw printing notes as an easy way to make money. The CCB team is yet to raid the Priyesh's press at Cherkala.

Kasaragod Police Chief P Bijoy said that although Mangaluru police had not officially requested assistance in the investigation, he had instructed his officers to secure the printing press.

Mangaluru City Police Commissioner Agrawal said he would recommend suitable reward to CCB officers Shyam Sunder, sub-inspectors Narendra, Sudeep, K V Rama Poojary, Seenappa and Sujan Shetty for busting the racket.