Police are also on the lookout for the mastermind, identified as Vikky Madhukar. (Representational)
Three persons were arrested here with fake Indian currency notes with a total face value of Rs 7.85 lakh that they planned to exchange with the now-withdrawn Rs 2,000 banknotes, police said on Monday.
Acting on a tip-off, the city crime branch arrested three men with 1,570 fake notes each with a face value of Rs 500, it said.
Two of the accused persons are natives of Puducherry and one is from Tamil Nadu, the crime branch said in a release.
Police are also on the lookout for the mastermind, identified as Vikky Madhukar, who supplied the duplicate banknotes to the arrested accused.
The trio was searching for people who were looking to exchange their Rs 2,000 currency notes after they were withdrawn by the Reserve Bank of India ten days ago.
The police have registered a first information report (FIR) against the three men under Indian Penal Code sections 489 (counterfeiting) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy). They were identified as Mohan Gavandar, Dinesh Rajput and Raghunath Pillai.
Mohan Gavandar, Dinesh Rajput and on-the-run Vikky Madhukar are history sheeters who were arrested in the past in connection with gambling, extortion and counterfeiting, the crime branch said.
The RBI on May 19 announced the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 currency notes from circulation and said the existing notes in the market can either be deposited or exchanged in banks by September 30.
The Rs 2,000 banknotes will continue to be legal tender, the central bank said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)