Kothagudem: An eight-member gang of currency counterfeiters was arrested from villages of Charla mandal on Tuesday.
The Bhadrachalam subdivision police also recovered counterfeit notes amounting to Rs. 5.15 lakh. Bhadrachalam ASP Rohitraj said that the gang, which included a woman and a minor boy, targeted the Adivasis for exchanging currency.
The police recovered 551 counterfeit notes of Rs.500 face value, 90 counterfeit notes of Rs.2,000 face value and 300 counterfeit notes of Rs.200 face value. A CPU, monitor, keyboard, an iron box with green threads used in note printing and a car were also recovered.
The accused were identified as Chirigidi Naresh, of Thegada in Charla mandal, Bose Premkumar of Kaliveru village, Mallela Vinod Kumar of Burripalem in Guntur, Kothapalli Jeevaratnam of Peddaravuru in Guntur, Pabbati Jayalaxmi of RTC Colony in Guntur, Gummala Venkateswara Rao of Kothapalli in Charla mandal, and Sayyad Iqbal of Charla. The name of the juvenile has been withheld.
The police said that Vinod Kumar and Jeevaratnam - in collusion with one P. Murali Krishna, who was arrested in Andhra Pradesh two months ago and later released - printed the notes and gave it to Premkumar to undertake the exchange.
Premkumar subsequently is suspected to have roped in the others. The gang used to exchange the counterfeit notes at the Adivasi fair in Charla, the police said.
