Hyderabad: That old racket in Turkish Lira is back! Just over a year after city police busted a gang that was palming off outdated large denomination Turkish currency in Hyderabad, Central Zone Task Force on Friday said they had arrested a 53-year-old former Railway Police inspector who was trying to sell denomination 5 lakh Lira notes, banned in Turkey since 2009, when the country introduced new notes. One official Lira is currently about Rs. 18.19.
Police said they had seized 100 notes of the denomination from the accused, identified as M. Srimannarayana Prasad, a resident of Habsiguda.
According to police, the accused is a native of Guntur and was a Railway Police Force sub inspector. Three years ago, he was trapped by the ACB and removed from service. Since then he had fallen on hard times. Recently, one of his friends, Sheshu, a resident of Karampodi, had told him he had Turkish Lira in his possession and asked Prasad for help to exchange it for Indian Rupees for a commission.
Prasad agreed to exchange the currency and took the 100 notes of Turkish Lira 5 lakh. “Some days later, he came to know that the currency was outdated in Turkey. Nonetheless, he went ahead with trying to sell the currency, for which he found a customer in the city,” said Task Force DCP B. Limba Reddy.
On Friday morning, Prasad went to meet his customer at the White House bar and restaurant in Chilkalguda. It was the Task Force team that had laid a trap for him. He was arrested and the fake currency seized from him.
