Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Counterfeit notes: trader held

Thiruvananthapuram: The city police have arrested a 30-year-old provision store owner in connection with the almost simultaneous remittance of counterfeit notes in various branches of a nationalised bank on Thursday.

The police identified the suspect as Shajahan, a trader in Chala market. Assistant Commissioner (Fort) K.C. Sasikumar said the police were looking for Shajahan’s brother-in-law, Thodupuzha-based Zakir, in connection with the fake note racket.

The fraud came to light on Thursday evening when officials at the East Fort branch of the bank found fake Rs.1,000 denomination notes in the remittances allegedly made by Shajahan. Soon, reports of similar fake note remittances started trickling in from other branches of the bank at Manacaud, Pettah, Poonthura, Kollam, Karunagapally, Kottayam and Kanjirampally.

Mr. Sasikumar said all the remittances were made in the name of Zakir. He said the fake notes were difficult to distinguish from the original ones. The fraud was exposed when bank officials scanned the suspect notes under ultra violet light and found most of the hidden security features missing. The police also searched Shajahan’s house at Ambalathara and questioned his wife who had allegedly accompanied the suspect to the bank for making the remittances.

Mr. Sasikumar said a Rs.1,000 fake note was confiscated from Shajahan. The suspect reportedly told the police that he had got the notes when he made huge withdrawals from the branch of another nationalised bank in the city.

However, Mr. Sasikumar said he would not take the suspect’s statement at face value. Shajahan has been charged with violating section 489 (a) of the Indian Penal Code.

The police said efforts were on to secure Zakir’s custody.

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