Three arrested for forging Erode district PRO’s signature and collecting money from school students

ERODE: Three men have been arrested on charges of forging the signature of the Erode district public relations officer and collecting money from students in the name of showing them awareness short films.
An officer at the Erode South police station said V Prasannaraj, 45, of Tiruchengode in Namakkal district, S Govindaraj,44, of Sankari in Salem district, K Karthikeyan, 44, of Chinnapavadi in Tiruchengode and Sathyanarayanan, 45, of Sankari had sent letters with the forged signature of the district PRO to some schools. The letter stated that they would show awareness short films to students on a particular date and collect Rs 10 from each of them. The short films were meant to create awareness on washing hands, what is good touch and what is bad touch and the like.
They had collected Rs 10 from students in at least eight schools in the last one month, the officer said.
However, a letter, which was sent to a private school, was redirected to the PRO's office as there was no one to receive it.
The PRO received it on Wednesday. Since he had not sent such a letter, PRO Sukumar filed a complaint with the Erode South police on Thursday seeking action against those involved in the unauthorized awareness programme and the fraudulent collection of money.
The police registered a case and began investigations. They discovered that Prasannaraj, Govindaraj, Karthikeyan and Sathyanarayanan were engaged in money laundering after forging the PRO's signature. "We arrested three of them on Friday night and are currently searching for Sathyanarayanan who is absconding," the officer stated.
The arrested men have been remanded in judicial custody. Further investigations were on.