Two get 10 years RI for running fake currency racket in K’taka

Team Udayavani, Jun 27, 2019, 10:30 AM IST

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Bengaluru: A special NIA court in Vijayawada has sentenced two people to 10 years rigorous imprisonment for running a fake Indian currency note (FICN) racket in Karnataka and nearby locations, a senior official said.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 30,000 each on Mohammed Mahaboob Baig, and Syed Imran both residents of Mandya district.

The two were intercepted and arrested in April last year by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) from the Visakhapatnam railway station with FICN of face value at Rs 10.20 lakh.

The two have been sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) official said, adding that they have been charged under sections 489 (tampering with property mark with intent to cause injury) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.

The NIA had filed its own case against the two based on the DRI’s complaint, he said.

“It was found that the accused, along with their associates, hatched a criminal conspiracy for procuring and circulating FICN in India,” an NIA spokesperson said.

“Investigation has also revealed that the two and their associates in Bengaluru and Malda (West Bengal) were active in trafficking huge quantities of FICN since 2015 and had visited Malda on many occasions and received the FICN from their associates based there,” he said.

Probe found that the FICN was procured from Bangladesh via the international border between the two countries in West Bengal and was being circulated in Karnataka and other parts of the country, the spokesperson said.