Thiruvananthapuram: The Bharatiya Janata Party suffered an embarrassment in Kerala when one of its youth leaders was arrested on the charge of printing fake currency notes at his home in Kodungalloor.
Police came across the development by accident while carrying out raids in different places against private money lenders who were extracting high interest from borrowers.
Police found a printer, scanner, laptop, ink and papers at the residence of Erachery Rajesh, a member of the panchayat committee of the Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of the BJP. Local residents said he had been carrying out money lending business though he himself did not seem to have any regular work.
BJP district officials said Rajesh had been sacked from the party. Police continued searches at his residence after taking him into custody.
Youth Congress state president Dean Kuriakose demanded that Rajesh be slapped with provisions under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Kuriakose said top investigating officials should conduct the probe since Rajesh had connections with senior BJP leaders.
The development is particularly embarrassing for the BJP because prime minister Narendra Modi had banned the Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes in circulation in November last year to introduce a new set of Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 notes.
Rajesh’s arrest sparked a volley of trolls on social media, with many saying that the incident exposed the hollowness of the federal government’s claim that a new set of currency notes would end black money and currency forgery.
