Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) today arrested a phone mechanic working with BSNL at Bavla village near here and seized fake Indian currency notes (FICN) with the face value of Rs 1.02 lakh from him.
The accused was identified as Shailesh Raval (50), resident of Sayla town in Surendranagar district. ATS officials said that apart from his BSNL job, he also serves as a priest at a Laxminarayan temple which he has built seven years ago and where he stays with his family.
ATS had a tip-off that Raval was going be at Bavla today to deliver the currency to someone.
“We nabbed him and found 102 FICN of Rs 1,000 denomination with the total face-value of Rs 1.02 lakh,” said sub-inspector C R Jadav of ATS.
“Raval earlier worked in Muli town of Surendranagar district where he met Vikramsinh. Raval claims that Vikramsinh and his friend Magan printed these notes and gave them to him to deliver to another person at Bavla,” said Jadav, adding that Raval didn’t seem to have any criminal record.
“Though he is a government servant and draws a good salary, Raval claimed he needed money for the treatment of her mentally-ill daughter,” the officer said, adding that police were trying to track down other persons involved in the racket.