A yoga teacher from Surat is at the centre of a fake currency scandal, with police uncovering a counterfeit operation that circulated lakhs of rupees in fake Indian currency notes.
Key Points
- A Surat-based yoga teacher and six others were arrested for involvement in a fake Indian currency note (FICN) racket.
- Police estimate the group circulated approximately Rs 10 to 12 lakh in counterfeit currency.
- The yoga teacher, Pradip Jotangiya, allegedly travelled to China to purchase printing machines and security paper.
- The accused used a hawala channel to send Rs 17.5 lakh to China for the machinery and paper needed to produce the fake currency.
- The group planned to distribute profits, with Jotangiya receiving half and the remaining six splitting the rest.
A Surat-based Yoga teacher and six others, arrested here last week with Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN), had likely circulated Rs 10 to 12 lakh in fake currency, police said on Tuesday.
During the interrogation, Yoga teacher Pradip Jotangiya of Shri Satyam Yog Foundation and co-accused Mukesh Thummar told police that they printed fake notes for personal gains, said an official.
The accused were caught with FICN of Rs 2.38 crore here last week.
The Shri Satyam Yog Foundation was not active after 2020, and very few transactions were carried out using its bank account, said inspector S J Jadeja of the Crime Branch.
Planning and Execution of the Counterfeit Operation
The seven accused met at the residence of Ashok Mavani some six months ago, and decided to print fake currency, he said.
Jotangiya, popularly known as Pradip Guruji, was to receive half the profit while the rest was to be distributed equally among the other six, said the official.
Jotangiya then travelled to Guangzhou in China in February 2026, and met an agent for buying good-quality printing machines. He also discussed payments for high-quality security thread paper. The accused sent Rs 17.5 lakh to China through a hawala channel to pay for the machinery and paper, the official said.
"It is likely that they circulated Rs 10-12 lakh of fake currency in the market," said the police official.
Jotangiya, Thummar, Mavani, Ramesh Bhalar, Divyesh Rana, Bharat Kakadiya and a woman are currently in police custody.
