THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A 37-year-old Karnataka native was picked up by Kerala Railway Police from Thampanoor Central Railway Station on Monday after they found him in possession of unaccounted cash worth `45 lakh that was to be taken to Bengaluru.
The arrested was identified as Ganga Rajan, who hails from Yelahanka, a suburb of Bengaluru. The Railway Police said the man, who worked as a driver, was picked up from the platform minutes before boarding Island Express leaving for Bengaluru. Sub Inspector Suresh Kumar said the suspect was nabbed during a routine search. “The officers were in civil dress and the man noticed them only when they were in close range.
The man had a tense look when the officers approached him. When they questioned him, he panicked. On searching his travel bag, a stash of currency of denominations 500 and 2000 was recovered,” Suresh said. The man failed to show the documents and source of the cash, Suresh said, adding that it was suspected to be black money being transacted through hawala carriers. The man, the police said, had reached the city on the instruction of a wealthy man from Bengaluru, for whom Rajan worked as a car driver. “He said he had received the cash from a man near the railway station. He seems to be a carrier and was to return by noon in the train,” Suresh said.