Fake currency gang busted, 10 held in Vijayawada

VIJAYAWADA: Commissioner’s Task Force (CTF) on Wednesday arrested a gang of 10 persons, including a woman, and seized counterfeit currency notes with a face value of Rs 4.9 lakh, from them. Addressing the media here, ACP-CTF VSN Varma said the gang led by Thathapudi Raju alias Nani from Vijayawada, deposited fake currency notes in cash deposit machines at ATM kiosks.

The fraud came to light when officials of a private bank recovered eight fake currency notes from one of their machines last Wednesday. The gang had deposited two such notes of Rs 2,000 in a deposit machine near Benz Circle on July 13.

Acting swiftly on the complaint from the bank officials, Task Force and Patamata police gathered details and found that the gang had tried to deposit the notes into a savings account. “With the help of bank account details and CCTV footage, we identified and arrested two of the members. Later, we arrested the rest of the gang,” said ACP Varma.

The other accused who were arrested were identified as Balusapati Ramesh Babu (Velagaleru), Madhumanchi Anjaneyulu (Tadepalligudem), Bokka Abraham (Addanki), Orusu Hanumantha Rao (Karampudi), Matanni Sujatha (Tadepalligudem of West Godavari district),  Chinthada Sai Manikanta (Tadepalligudem of West Godavari district) Madhumanchi Prasad (Darsi), Yejjala Raju (Tadepalligudem) and Chilakaluri Mariyadas (Darsi).

Gudivada police trace ‘missing’ woman, boy

A 30-year-old woman and a minor boy who had gone missing from Gudivada, were found at Balanagar of Hyderabad and brought back on Wednesday. Police said special teams were formed to trace Swapna who had allegedly abducted the 15-year-old from his residence on July 19. The woman was booked under relevant sections of POCSO Act.