Police are on the lookout for a man believed to be the kingpin of a counterfeit currency racket who is said to be hiding somewhere in Tamil Nadu.
The man said to have acted as an agent for professional college admission and pumped in fake currency after collecting genuine currency from students.
A Karnataka police team stayed in Tamil Nadu for nearly two weeks recently after they found out that fake notes, believed to be made in Pakistan, was reaching Bengaluru through a mastermind named Ravi operating from Tamil Nadu.
However, the policemen, who reached Tamil Nadu on the basis of a confession by two men arrested in Bengaluru a few weeks ago, were forced to return empty handed.
“It is very difficult to locate a man with just a name. In most of the cases, handlers of counterfeit currency hardly use their original names or genuine mobile numbers,” noted an official attached to the National Investigation Agency who is familiar with counterfeit smuggling from Pakistan through Bangladesh to various southern states.
The two persons arrested by Karnataka police told investigators they used to arrange seats for Sri Lankan students in Bengaluru colleges and had ties with medical, engineering and other colleges.
They had met Ravi in Tamil Nadu but claimed that Ravi was using counterfeit notes.
Police said that it seemed that Ravi collects original foreign currency notes from students and give them fake Indian currency to give to education institutes.
Many students opt to exchange money with Ravi instead of at an exchange counter because he would give them a better rate. However, they were not aware that they were getting counterfeit currency.
NIA sources ruled out the possibility of the kingpin printing fake notes in Tamil Nadu but said that he could be “procuring” it from Malta district in West Bengal bordering Bangladesh.
Fake Indian notes printed in Pakistan get pumped into the country through Bangladesh, said an NIA official.