Serial actress' arrest: Tale of cash stash, high walls and potboiler script

The locals still can’t believe that the lavish bungalow at Mulankadathu, Kollam, owned by popular serial actress Surya Shashi, was the center of the fake currency racket. They say that people in high-end cars frequented the place. People in the locality were not sure whether to intervene even though they smelled a rat for Surya was a known face there and they also feared a backlash for moral policing.

The actress and her mother, whom the police consider the ‘kingpin’, allegedly demanded Rs 1 lakh for each tranche of printed counterfeit currency with the face value of Rs 3 lakh.

It is said that the women became a part of the racket to lead a luxurious life. The family stayed in a big two-storied house encompassed by unusually high compound walls spiked with iron nails. The thickly grown bougainvillea partially hid the house from outside. The residents remained secluded with no contact with neighbors.

The actress and her family were reportedly mired in debts and had sold their ancestral home in November last year to settle it. Surya’s mother Rema Devi is said to have even floated a money-lending firm.

Police say that the family had been allowing illegal activities in the upper floor of their house for the last six months. Fake currency notes in various stages of printing and materials used for printing the fake notes to the tune of Rs 7 crore rupees were seized by the police. Rema Devi has confessed to the crime before the the first class magistrate in Nedungandam.

She said that her children were not part of the racket and that she alone was involved in the crime. She added that her daughter, who was a popular actress, did not visit the house regularly. The accused have been remanded to 14 days at the Viyyur central jail.

Rema Devi has been living with her husband in Kuwait for years. She returned to Kerala following her spouse’s death and sold their house for Rs 1.5 crore. However, she and her children stayed at the same house by paying huge rent to cover up the sale of the house.

Though Surya got married to a TV serial producer years ago in a lavish ceremony, the relationship did not last. Later, the actress married a native of Pappiniserry, Kannur, and has been living there in a flat in Kathrikadavu.

The financial condition of the family was sound until Rema Devi returned to Kerala in 1996 after her husband's demise. She even inherited her sister’s properties and then began to lent money to businessmen in Kollam. She was also known to have close contacts with many leading cinema – serial personalities. It was her contacts in the TV industry which won several roles for daughter Surya in the mini screen.

The police had earlier seized fake currency notes with the face value of Rs 2.25 lakh from Annakarayi in Idukki and arrested three men including a former soldier. It was during their interrogation that the names of the actress, her mother and sister came to light, the police said.