Three of a family held for circulating counterfeit notes

The Kamakshipalya police on Sunday arrested three persons of a family including a juvenile for circulating counterfeit currency notes.

Around 50 notes of Rs 1,000 denomination and 34 notes of Rs 500 - totalling to Rs 67,000 - were seized from the arrested persons.

According to the police, the arrested have been identified as Lakshmi (40), her son Suresh (19) and a juvenile who is their relative.

All are residents of Agrahara Dasarahalli and hail from Tamil Nadu, the police added. Suresh was a groundnut vendor while his mother was a domestic help.
The person who used to supply the counterfeit notes to is absconding, said the police.

Modus operandi

The police said that their modus operandi was to use the fake notes to buy small quantities of goods at grocery shops, and get back genuine notes for the balance.

“Around  a week ago, some shopkeepers from Kamakshipalya registered a complaint with the police saying that they had been receiving counterfeit notes. Recently, the juvenile was caught by one of the shopkeepers while he was trying to circulate a fake note,” said a senior police officer.

The officer added that the shopkeeper handed over the boy to the police, and on questioning, he spilled the beans. The police took him to his house from where Lakshmi and Suresh were arrested. The duo also confessed to the crime, the officer said.

According to the officer, the trio disclosed that a person based in Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu, was supplying them with counterfeit currency. They said that he used to come down to the City for circulating the money.

“They used to keep 25 per cent of the money and return the rest to the person who runs the racket,” the officer added.

The police are trying to find out where more people are involved in the racket. A special team has been formed to track down the prime accused, added police.