The trio with the fake notes were carrying the cash in a car with a red beacon.
An MBA student and her cousin were among three persons arrested with fake Rs 2,000 currency notes with a face value of Rs 42 lakh in Mohali on Wednesday, police said in Mohali.
The trio - Vishakha Verma of Kapurthala, who is perusing MBA from Manipur, her B Tech cousin Abhinav Verma from Dhakoli in Zirakpur and their property dealer friend Suman Nagpal of Ludhiana - were caught in an Audi car with illegal red beacon atop. Two of their accomplices are still at large, Mohali SP Parminder Singh Bhandal said.
The police said post-demonetisation, the accused had begun printing fake Rs 2,000 notes.
According to police, the recovered fake notes were of fine quality and bear close resemblance to the original Rs 2,000 notes.
"With red beacon atop the luxury car, the accused were on their way to dupe a gullible customer when on a tip-off, we intercepted them near Bakarpur village," the SP said.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the Ludhiana-based property dealer used to look for the gullible persons, interested in exchanging junked currency notes of Rs 500 and 1,000, by charging 30 per cent of the total amount.
"After striking a deal, they would give the victims fake currency notes in return," the investigators said.
A case under Sections 420, 489-A, B, C, D and 120-B was registered against the accused, who were sent to one-day police remand by a local court.