Pramesh S Jain
The Chamrajpet police have arrested seven people from different states for allegedly printing and circulating counterfeit Rs.500 currency notes and seized 4,337 fake notes with a face value of Rs.21.68 lakh, along with a car,eight mobile phones and equipment allegedly used for printing the currency.
The accused has been identified as,Govindan (43) from Krishnagiri,Tamil Nadu;Bhakth (48);and three others from Telangana’s Rangareddy district — Sathyam (47), Lakshman (46) and Krishna (43). Police said they recovered 3,000 counterfeit Rs.500 notes and a car and two mobile phones from two of the accused during the initial operation.
The case came to light on September 14 when the Chamrajpet police received information that counterfeit notes were being circulated near a petrol bunk on the Mysuru Road flyover down-ramp.
Acting on the information,police inspector Kiran along with PSI Guruswamy and his team detained two suspects and, during interrogation,they allegedly confessed to printing counterfeit currency for easy financial gains.They reportedly revealed that nine others were involved in the racket.
Based on their information,police arrested two accused in Chennai and three others in Telangana’s Rangareddy district on September 18.
Searches conducted at a house in Krishnagiri district on September 24 and 25 led to the recovery of another 1,337 counterfeit Rs.500 notes,along with a computer, laptop,laminator,colour printer,cutting machine, hologram equipment and photocopy (Xerox) machine allegedly used to produce the fake currency.
All seven arrested accused were produced before court between September 17 and 26 and remanded to judicial custody.
Police are continuing efforts to trace four other suspects believed to be involved in the racket a senior officer told reporters.
