A key accused in a Malda fake currency case has been convicted and sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) by the special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Kolkata.
Accused Faijul Sk, a resident of the Gopalganj area of Malda (West Bengal), has also been fined Rs5,000, and failure to deposit the same will attract an additional three months of RI. Trial against three other accused, including an absconding Bangladeshi national, is continuing.
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Faijul, who has been found guilty under section 489B & 489C of IPC and section 16 of the UA(P) Act, was found involved in the case RC-23/2019/NIA/DLI, related to the seizure of fake Indian currency notes (FICNs).
The seizure was made on September 16, 2019 by DRI, which recovered 99 fake notes in the denomination of Rs 2000 and two in the denomination of Rs 500, totaling Rs 1,99,000 in face value. The currency was recovered from the possession of one Asim Sarkar, who was taken into custody.
The NIA, which took over the investigation in October 2019, subsequently arrested Faijul Sk along with another accused, Aladu alias Matahur. A fourth accused, a Bangladeshi national identified as Abdul Rahim, is absconding.
All four accused have been charge-sheeted by the NIA, which has found that they had collectively hatched a criminal conspiracy to procure and circulate High-Quality Fake Indian Currency notes intending to use the same as genuine for unlawful gain.