THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Central investigation agencies, including NIA and RAW, have started a probe into the confiscation of counterfeit currency notes worth over Rs 2 lakh and the subsequent arrest of eight youths hailing from West Bengal, at Parassala near Neyyatinkara, the other day. Meanwhile, it is learnt that the local police are in a haste to hand over the charge of the investigation, that is going on simultaneously, to the Crime Branch."The move has gained momentum after the gravity of the case grew beyond our capacity with suspected terror links,’’ said an officer attached to the local police who is also a part of the investigation team.The local police, it is learnt, will forward a request to the CB-CID in this regard. The usual procedure in cases involving counterfeit currency notes is that the local police would conduct the preliminary inquiry for the first 15 days of registering the case before handing it over to the Economic Offence Wing of CB-CID.However, A Akbar, Superintendent of Police, Thiruvananthapuram Rural, dismissed such assumptions."At present, there is no such move from the local police. We are actively carrying out our role as the primary investigators in the case,’’ he said.The service of banks functioning here have been sought to examine the details of transactions, through which money was sent from the state to the bank branches in West Bengal. The mobile phone records of the accused are also being probed into, he said.The SP also said that even though all the accused belonged to the same racket, all of them arrived in the district separately and operated independently. An alert has also been sent out to all banks and shops in the district to be wary of fake notes, he added.Meanwhile, a top NIA official has said that the accused have carried out similar operations in other states too in the past. However, he refrained himself from revealing more information.It was on Saturday that the police arrested Kamarul Islam, 26, Mujeeb Rehman, 22, Inamul Haq, 20, Sirajul Haq, 22, Sakeer Ali, 18, Roohul Ameer, 21, and two teenagers of 17 and 15 years of age and confiscated the fake currency notes.
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