CANACONA
An unidentified man on a motorcycle from Karnataka was unsuccessfully chased by people after he was suspected to have made attempts to push fake currency notes at Polem petrol pump on Tuesday.
According to sources, the man after filling the motorcycle tank with petrol at Polem fuel station handed a Rs 1,000 note from a bundle of currency notes stacked in one of his pockets.
The pump attendant, suspecting the genuineness of the note, found to his dismay that the note was detected as counterfeit in the counting/note identifying machine.
Thereafter, he demanded a genuine note, and the man without any reluctance obliged and took out another currency note from his other pocket, paid the attendant, took the change and hurriedly left the scene. He began to ignore questions from pump attendants, as others present tried to prevent him from leaving.
Some other villagers who had noticed the man leaving hurriedly tried to chase him towards Canacona, but soon lost track thereafter. Police were also reportedly informed about the incident.
Sources said just before leaving the petrol pump, someone clicked a picture of the motorcycle on his mobile phone and later circulated it among others via WhatsApp and warned residents to be aware of a fraudster on the move.
It was also informed that they tried to nab the man while trying to push fake currency notes at Polem petrol pump and requested to inform the police if anyone spots the motorcycle (KA-30-R-7768).
When contacted, Canacona PI Philomeno Costa confirmed the development and said the motorcycle borne man hailed from Karwar, and police was keeping a close watch on his activities. He also requested to keep the police informed of any misadventure by the suspected man on the motorcycle.
