District Police Chief (Ernakulam Rural) K. Karthik has formed a special investigation squad headed by Puthencruz DySP to probe into the fake currency racket that was busted at Elanji near Koothattukulam on Tuesday.
In a joint operation, the Ernakulam Rural police and Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) had arrested seven persons and seized fake currency bills of ₹500 valued at over ₹7.57 lakh and printing equipment.
The accused have since been remanded in judicial custody and the police are about to file a plea for their custodial interrogation to find out among other things whether more people were involved.
The gang had been staying at the place for over eight months and successfully managed to operate without raising any suspicion in the neighbourhood. They claimed to be into event management and local people probably linked the activities to something associated with their profession, police sources said.
The raid was conducted on the basis of a tip-off received by the ATS. It is suspected that they could have printed more bills and even circulated it. “However, they made sure not to circulate them in the immediate neighbourhood for fear that it may raise alert,” said a senior official associated with the probe.
Five printers, a photostat machine, a screen printing machine, a currency counting machine, ink, and papers were also seized from the building. All the materials were procured from within the State and none had any standout features, said the official.
A case has been registered against the accused under IPC Sections 489A (counterfeiting currency notes or bank-notes) 489C (possession of forged or counterfeit currency notes or bank notes), 489D (making or possessing instruments or materials for forging or counterfeiting currency notes or bank notes), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (acts done by several people in furtherance of common intention).
Central agencies are also reportedly looking into the case considering its serious nature with implications for national interest.
