Currency exchange: Woman Inspector, Jana Sena leader, 2 others held for deceiving 2 retired naval officers

VISAKHAPATNAM: The Visakhapatnam Police arrested an armed reserve (AR) inspector, Swarnalatha, and four others upon busting a Rs 2,000-currency note exchange racket forfor allegedly extorting Rs 12 lakh from two retired naval officers on Friday. The three other arrested were identified as AR police constable M Hemasundar, home guard V Srinivasa Rao alias Srinu and a middleman V Suri Babu of Arilova, a Jana Sena leader who duped the naval officers on the pretext of exchanging the Rs. 2,000 notes with Rs 500.

Vizag CP narrates sequence of the case

Disclosing the case details to the media, Visakhapatnam City Police Commissioner CM Trivikrama Varma said that the four accused were led by Armed Reserve (AR) Inspector Swarnalatha who was also serving as vice-president of the Andhra Pradesh Police Officers Association. Recently, the two retired naval officers Kolli Srinu and Sridhar belonging to the city got retirement benefits close to Rs 90 lakh. The duo came in contact with Suri Babu who informed them that by giving Rs 500 currency notes, he would return Rs 2,000-currency notes with 10 percent profit. In their case, the retired naval officers were assured to be given Rs 1 crore of Rs 2,000 currency notes, if they provided Rs 90 lakh in Rs 500 denominations, which was almost Rs 10 lakh profit, he said.

Trivikrama Varma said that the accused Hemasundar and Srinivasa Rao came to know about the exchange deal through Suri Babu. They immediately informed Swarnalatha about the deal, who together allegedly planned to make profit out of it. On June 3, 2023 at around 6 pm, the two retired naval officers met V Suri Babu of Arilova at Seethammadhara. While Suri Babu was counting the money, Swarnalatha along with her team reached the spot in another car and threatened the victims of filing false cases against them either by the Task Force or the Income Tax Department on the charge of carrying fake currency.

The Police Commissioner said that the retired naval officers panicked and agreed to negotiate with Swarnalatha and settle the issue. As per dealing, Swarnalatha received about Rs 5 lakh, while Hemasundar received Rs 2 lakh and Srinivasa Rao received Rs 10,000. Suri Babu, who was the middleman, received Rs 5 lakh as his share. After the extortion, Swarnalatha asked the victims to leave the spot, assuring them of no further trouble. Upon realising that they were cheated, the two retired naval officers approached the police and filed a complaint on June 6, 2023.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Vidya Sagar Naidu and DCP (Crimes) G Naganna investigated the matter and registered cases against Swarnalatha under non-bailable sections including extortion cases, which was a punishable offence up to 10 years imprisonment. “All the extorted money was recovered from the accused. Further investigations are underway to check about the money claimed as retirement benefits from the retired naval officers,” Trivikrama Varma said.

There are many allegations against the main accused, Swarnalatha, wherein she used her clout with political leaders in the past and deceived the people by resorting to settlements of civil cases.