INDIA. Mumbai: A special NIA court in Patna, Bihar, on Monday awarded 10 years of rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs 50,000 to one Munna Singh (46) involved in a fake currency racket along the Indo-Nepal border.
Besides, Singh was sentenced to 5 years RI with a fine of Rs 5000/- The sentences will run concurrently. He was convicted under sections 489 B and 120 B of the Indian Penal Code and sections 16,18,20 and 21 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. He was found to be carrying a consignment of fake currency notes to Raxaul near the Indo-Nepal border for further delivery in Nepal.
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) had nabbed Singh near Ramgarhwa, Motihari, East Champaran, while he was carrying the fake currency consignment to Raxaul. Initially, the case was registered by DRI on September 19, 2015. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over the investigation on December 23, 2015, and filed a charge-sheet (RC-15/2015/NIA-DLI) against Singh in 2016.
Till now, the NIA has charge-sheeted eight accused, of whom five were convicted earlier. They included Afroz Ansari, Sunny Kumar alias “Sunny Shaw” alias “Sujit Kumar” alias “Kabir Khan”, Ashraful Alam alias “Ishraful Alam”, and Alomgir Seikh alias “Raju”.
They were sentenced to life imprisonment, along with a fine of Rs 30,000, by the special court in October 2018. Another man, Raisuddin, was awarded five years of rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs 5,000 last month.
The sentence of 10 years RI to Singh is the longest ever handed down to a person convicted in a fake currency case in Bihar. A total of 10 accused were involved in the case relating to the seizure of high-quality fake Indian currency notes of a face value of Rs 5.94 lakh from one Afroz Ansari.
The NIA has been actively investigating fake currency cases in Bihar, which is a major transit point for fake currency smuggled into India from Pakistan and Bangladesh. The agency has arrested and prosecuted several people in recent years for their involvement in fake currency rackets, according to the NIA statement.
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