The Mumbai Police Crime Branch has arrested four people involved in the fake currency racket.

It is believed that the convicts namely, Kuldeep Sharma, 20, Narnaram Purohit, 25, Nityanand Shetty, 37 and Pramod Kumar Srivastav (alias Khushwa) have been active in circulating counterfeit currency over the past six months.

It is believed that they have already circulated currency worth more than Rs. 45 lakh over the period.

Dinesh Ahire, official of Mumbai Police Crime Branch, said, "Ismail and Rajesh Purohit who are now in Nepal received fake notes from Pakistani nationals and passed it on to these men in Mumbai."

According to the sources, Pramod Kumar Srivastav (originally from Bihar) is the linchpin in the racket.

Another member Shetty is a resident of Ghatkopar (East), while Purohit and Sharma both hail from Rajasthan and deal in mobile phone accessories.

Rakesh Maria, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), revealed, "Unit 2 of the Crime Branch received information that counterfeit currency was going to be sold at a rate of Rs 60 in genuine notes for every Rs 100 in fake notes, and that the deal would go through near Kothari Hospital in the CP Tank area. A trap was laid accordingly to arrest the four men."

"We have recovered 100 fake notes of Rs 1,000 denomination, and 55 fake notes of Rs 500 denomination from the accused," he added.

Police has seized forged currency worth Rs.1, 27,500 in denominations of Rs1,000 and Rs.500 denominations and is on lookout for Rajesh Purohit and Ismail, the two others suspects in the case.