Widespread counterfeit currency circulation in central Travancore

By Our Staff Reporter

PATHANAMTHITTA, JULY 22. With the counterfeit currency racket allegedly spreading its tentacles in central Travancore, especially in the hill district of Pathanmthitta that has easy access to the bordering Tamil Nadu, the police arrested a 40-year-old man from a private bus at Pullad near Kozhencherry with two hundred-rupee counterfeit notes on Saturday afternoon, reportedly just the tip of the iceberg of a major counterfeit currency racket with alleged political patronage.

There were allegations of largescale circulation of counterfeit notes in the Mallappally, Kunnanthanam and Kozhencherry areas of the district and police had seized false currencies from these parts on more than one occasion in the past month.

The latest case in this connection was reported from Pullad in the Koipram police station limits on Saturday and the police is seriously probing into the incident, says the District Superintendent of Police, Mr. S. Aananthakrishnan, IPS, who assumed charge only a month ago.

The accused in the latest case, Rajashekhara Kurup of Pullad, was arrested by the Koipram SI, Mr. M.K. Zulfiquer, when the former had an altercation with the conductor of a private bus at Pullad.

The seizure of the false currencies followed by the arrest was the fall-out of the altercation over the genuineness of the 100- rupee note given by the former as busfare. The issue took a new turn when the bus staff diverted the bus to the nearby Koipram Police Station and the accused, sensing the danger, had reportedly grabbed the note from the conductor's hand, tearing it into pieces.

However, the police found another hundred-rupee counterfeit note on his person. According to the police, the accused who is said to be the porter of a lorry from Pullad transporting hay from Tamil Nadu, later confessed that he had got the two `notes' from the lorry owner's son as part of his daily wages.

The accused was produced before the Judicial First Class Magistrate's Court at Adoor today and remanded to the Pathanamthitta sub-jail till August 4, police said.

Earlier, the police has seized similar counterfeit currency notes of Rs. 100 denomination from a bar hotel in Mallappally two weeks ago. There were also allegations of largescale circulation of 50 paise coins made of lead in Kozhencherry and surrounding areas.

It is alleged that the counterfeit currency circulation in the district has close links with the illicit liquor smuggling lobby in the district and also with the illegal sand transportation from the riverbeds of Pampa and Manimala, allegedly being carried out by a mafia having strong political backing.

The authorities too were often not really interested in effectively checking such illegal and unlawful activities for reasons best known to them. It is also alleged that the counterfeit currency squad under the Crime Branch is not effectively pursuing many of the cases being transferred to it from different police stations.

However, Mr. Ananthakrishnan has said that stern action would be taken against those who were found involved in such unlawful activities.

He said that the alleged counterfeit currency circulation in certain parts of the district would be probed.

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