BJP black money blot .... Kerala Yuva Morcha leader caught with Rs 1.5 lakh fake currency

TT, June 23: A BJP youth leader who had taken part in a campaign against black money has been arrested in Kerala on the charge of printing and circulating fake currency notes.

Yuva Morcha leader Rakesh Erachery, 31, was arrested in Thrissur district yesterday. His brother Rajeev, an alleged accomplice, is on the run, police said.

A raid on his home in Mathilakom in Thrissur allegedly threw up fake currency with a face value of around Rs 1.5 lakh in denominations of Rs 2,000, Rs 500, Rs 50 and Rs 20. Reams of A4 sheets of paper and a colour printer were also seized.

While Rakesh is the Yuva Morcha area president of SN Puram, Rajeev is the OBC Morcha general secretary of Kaypamangalam, both in the district.

Rakesh Erachery

An embarrassed BJP sacked both men from the party. The alleged racket has been busted at a time the BJP has been aggressively projecting demonetisation as a decisive step against black money.

As news about the arrest spread, a poster surfaced on social media, showing a picture of Rakesh along with the other leaders who participated in a BJP march against 'black money' held on January 11 in Mathilakom. The party's national executive member Shobha Surendran had led that event.

Police teams are now on the hunt for Rajeev who is believed to have escaped to neighbouring Tamil Nadu via Kanyakumari in the south of Kerala. After undergoing a short-term course on computers, Rakesh had worked in the Gulf. It was not immediately known when he returned to Kerala.

The duo usually targeted poor fisher folk in the area and lottery vendors, the police said. Since the notes are not printed in pulp paper, they would have been easily caught had they tried to con any bank or major establishments that regularly check currency, the police said.

The police acted on a tip-off after Rajeev allegedly paid a nearby petrol pump with the fake notes. The unemployed Erachery brothers had been on the watch list for a few weeks mainly because of their lavish lifestyle.

Kerala BJP president Kummanam Rajashekaran immediately announced the dismissal of the brothers and said "anti-nationals" had no place in the party.

K. Radhakrishnan, the district secretary of the ruling CPM , has demanded a high-level investigation to check if any more BJP leaders were involved in the racket. "The police should investigate the source of the lavish spending by the BJP, RSS and the Yuva Morcha," he told reporters in Thrissur.