The city police on Sunday arrested three persons here for allegedly producing counterfeit notes with a face value of Rs 10 lakh and trying to peddle them.
Based on a tip-off, after the police intensified checks on vehicles on Saturday night, they flagged down three persons riding a bike on Madurai road and found a parcel in the fuel tank cover.
DSP M Ramamurthy, who was at the spot, found the parcel contained fake 1,000 rupee notes. All three - Karthikeyan (35), his brother Balan (45) of Kattayapuram and Ramar, who run the Anu Printer press in Allampatti – were arrested. During interrogation, Karthikeyan confessed that it was his idea to make a quick buck by producing and circulating fake notes. He claimed he and Balan downloaded the design features of the 1,000 rupee note from the RBI website at the computer centre they run and copied them. The notes were printed at Anu Printer.
“The fake notes had the look and feel of the original ones in terms of colour and design. The paper quality though was inferior, but that wouldn’t have caught the eye of illiterate people,” said Ramamurthy.
The notes were printed two months ago, but were waiting for the right time for circulation, he added.
Inspector General of Police, South Zone, Rajesh Das said: “Though they are the first time offenders, we will do a thorough background check.”