CHENNAI: Three men including an ex-serviceman and a lawyer were arrested for allegedly printing counterfeit notes and circulating them in the city. The issue came to light when the ex-serviceman tried to buy fruits and vegetables from a shop in Nungambakkam in exchange of the notes on Thursday night.
The police recovered counterfeit notes having a face value of Rs 45.20 lakh in the denominations of Rs 500, a cutting machine, a counting machine and a magnifying lens. The police also arrested, Karthikeyan, the owner of the printing press in Vadapalani where the notes were printed.
The police said that the ex-serviceman A Annamalai (64) is a resident of Pallikarani while the lawyer V Subramaniam (62) is a resident of Virugambakkam. “The fake currency racket was run from Subramaninam’s house. Five months ago, Subramaniam had hired Annamalai,” they said.
On Thursday evening, Annamalai had gone to a fruits shop run by Mani of Nungambakkam, located opposite to Valluvar Kottam bus stop. After his purchase, Annamalai had given four `500 notes to the shopkeeper.
When he received the notes, he became suspicious, a police statement said. Speaking to the media, Deshmukh Shekhar Sanjay, deputy commissioner of police, Triplicane, said, “The shopkeeper in his complaint said that he has received fake currency notes nearly four to five times in the past, and he claims it was Annamalai who had come on every occasion.”
Shekhar Sanjay said Subramaniam had printed a total of Rs 50 lakhs in counterfeit notes and had spent Rs 4.80 lakh of it in five months. Annamalai and Subramaniam were remanded in judicial custody on Friday.