Kollam, July 5 : Kerala TV serial actress Surya and her mother and sister have been arrested for printing counterfeit currency at their residence here to make up for the losses they had incurred, police said on Thursday.
Surya has been a popular TV artiste featuring in several serials aired by a number of Kerala-based TV channels.
Circle Inspector of Police V.S. Sunilkumar, who led the police probe team and arrested Surya and her family members on Wednesday, told IANS they recovered an entire printing facility at their house. He added that two more accomplices were arrested on Thursday, taking the total number of arrests to eight.
All of the arrested persons were remanded to judicial custody on Thursday.
"We were able to recover about Rs 2 lakh counterfeit notes... We have seized papers, printers and other materials used to print counterfeit notes. It was stocked at their residence to print notes worth Rs 5 million," said Sunilkumar.
He said they traced a team of professionals in Idukki, who were engaged in printing counterfeit currency, who led them to the actress and her family members. He said the entire group was functioning as a "well-knit team".
"The actress and her family have admitted that they were into this business of printing counterfeit notes since September last year," said the police officer.
The actress and her family had suffered a sudden loss in their business from unexpected quarters and were in trouble since, the officer said.
"We believe it was their chance meeting with a 'fake godman' who led the actress and her family into the racket of counterfeit currency business," said Sunilkumar.
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Seoul(AP): A fishing boat capsized and sank off the coast of South Korea's Jeju island Friday, leaving at least two people dead and 12 others unaccounted for, coast guard officials said.
Nearby fishing vessels managed to pull 15 crew members out of the water, but two of them were later pronounced dead after being brought to shore. The other 13 did not sustain life-threatening injuries, said Kim Han-na, an official at Jeju's coast guard.
She said 27 crew members – 16 South Korean nationals and 11 foreigners – were on the 129-ton boat, which left Jeju's Seogwipo port late Thursday to catch mackerel. The coast guard received a distress signal at around 4:30 a.m. Friday from a nearby fishing vessel that conducted rescue efforts as the boat sank 24 kilometers (15 miles) northwest of the island.
At least 11 vessels and nine aircraft from South Korea's coast guard, police, fire service and military were deployed as of Friday morning to search for survivors. They were being assisted by 13 civilian vessels.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called for officials to mobilize all available resources to find and rescue the missing crew members, his office said.