Kerala TV actress Surya Sasikumar has been arrested along with her mother Ramadevi and sister Shruti for printing fake currency notes at their home near Kattapana in Idukki district of Kerala.
An entire printing facility was recovered from their home, including a computer, printer, ink and a fake RBI seal when the police raided the premises at around 3 am on Tuesday.
The Circle Inspector of Police V.S. Sunilkumar, said they traced a team of professionals in Idukki, who were engaged in printing fake currency, who led them to the actress and her family members.
“We were able to recover about Rs 2 lakh counterfeit notes. We have seized papers, printers and other materials used to print counterfeit notes. It was stocked at their residence to print notes worth Rs 5 million,” said Sunilkumar.
Police said fake notes of Rs 500 denomination were being printed in the house. They estimated that fake currency worth Rs 57 lakh could have been printed here over the past eight months or so.
“The actress and her family have admitted that they were into this business of printing counterfeit notes since September last year,” said the police officer.
The family had suffered a sudden loss in their business from unexpected quarters and were in trouble since, the officer said.
“We believe it was their chance meeting with a ‘fake godman’ who led the actress and her family into the racket of counterfeit currency business,” said Sunilkumar.
A total of 8 people have been arrested and were remanded judicial custody on Thursday.