A school teacher was arrested in Tripura’s Khowai district on Wednesday on charges of circulating fake Indian currency notes and possessing narcotic tablets, an incident that has triggered widespread concern and discussion in the local community and education sector.
The arrest comes amid growing concerns over a series of recent incidents involving individuals holding positions of public responsibility. Just days earlier, four police personnel, including an inspector and a woman sub-inspector, had been suspended and arrested in connection with the alleged dishonest removal of seized codeine-based cough syrup bottles from Teliamura Police Station.
The accused teacher has been identified as Kartik Debnath (40), a resident of West Sonatala under Khowai police station limits. He was serving as a teacher at Garobari Senior Basic School in the district.
According to police officials, acting on specific intelligence inputs, personnel from Kalyanpur police station conducted a raid at the weekly market in Bagan Bazar on Wednesday morning. During the operation, Debnath was detained on suspicion of circulating counterfeit Indian currency notes.
Additional Superintendent of Police of Khowai district Justin Joseph said fake currency notes were initially recovered from the accused during the raid. Based on information gathered during preliminary questioning, police later conducted a search at his residence.
During the search, officials recovered additional fake currency notes and 55 narcotic tablets. Police said counterfeit notes amounting to Rs 22,600 were seized. A case has been registered, and investigations are continuing to determine whether a larger network is involved.
