Two men were arrested when they attempted to exchange a fake Rs 1,000 note at a major textile showroom in T Nagar on Friday.
Police said the accused - Kishore (28) and his cousin Brindhavan (33) - walked into the Saravana Selvarathnam Stores on Usman Road around 9 pm on Thursday.
The duo selected a travel bag and tendered a Rs 1,000 note at the cash counter. The cashier, on suspicion, asked the duo to wait and informed the store manager Rajapandi, who, in turn, alerted the Mambalam Police who reached the spot.
A search of their bags revealed that the accused had six more Rs 1,000 fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) and Rs 4,000 original notes in their possession.
The two suspects were taken to Mambalam Police Station for questioning. Brindhavan, who had come down to Chennai from Bhubaneswar to visit Kishore five days ago, was reportedly an agent for FICN rackets operating out of Odisha.
Police also searched the residence of Kishore where Brindhavan was staying and seized Rs 40,000 tucked in Brindhavan’s bag.
After the overnight grilling, a case was registered against the duo, who was subsequently remanded to judicial custody.
A total of Rs 51,000, including the fake FICN notes, belonging to the two men was handed over to the court.
The source of the fake currency was yet to be traced and the fake notes used by the duo were of the finest quality and could have been printed and circulated from Pakistan, said sources.
“We will take them into our custody for further investigation and that will shed more light on the FICN racket,” a senior police official said.
While Kishore was into manufacturing wire ropes used in harbours and living in Parry’s, Brindhavan was into manufacturing parts for cine projectors and is from Bhubaneswar.
