Police on Wednesday arrested a dermatologist, Ashif Ansh, and busted a fake Indian currency racket from his medical shop cum clinic at Brambe under Mandar police station area, around 45km from the state capital.

The cops seized a scanner, a laptop, a printer and huge quantity of fake Indian currency notes (FICN). “Police acted on the basis of intelligence inputs and accordingly his medical shop cum clinic, Rani Skin Care Centre, was raided where we recovered equipment and FICN,” said Khelari deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Manoj Kumar.

“He (Ansh) has been booked under sections 420 (cheating), 489A (counterfeiting currency notes), 489C (possession of forged or counterfeit currency notes), 489D (making or possessing instruments or materials for forging or counterfeiting currency notes) and 489E (making or using documents resembling currency notes) of the IPC. We have started an inquiry,” DSP Kumar added.

The accused, a native of Murma village under Mandar police station limits, claimed that he has completed his postgraduate medical degree from the Karnataka Medical Council.

“His claim as doctor is subject to verification and it can’t be said that whether he possesses a medical degree or not,” said Mandar police station officer in-charge Shanta Prasad. Sources in the police claimed that during interrogation the accused said that he was running the racket alone and was doing it to earn easy money.

“He said that this was his brainchild and he had not involved anybody else in this, but we can’t trust his claim so easily,” said a Ranchi police officer. “He must have some associates. We think that he was doing this for the past six months and he said that it was easy for him to run FICN in the rural market because people are mostly illiterate and they can easily be fooled. He said that during Murma fair in Mandar he used FICN.”

The accused was forwarded to Birsa Munda Central Jail under judicial custody. Sources in the police said they would seek police remand for further questioning.