New Delhi: Two key accused in the 2019 Malda fake currency case have been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment (RI) by the Kolkata special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
While Asim Sarkar of Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh has been sentenced to seven years of RI, his co-accused Aladu alias Matur of Malda in West Bengal will have to spend five years in jail under RI, as per the sentence pronounced by the special court, which has found both the men guilty in the case RC-23/2019/NIA/DLI.
The two accused, who have been held culpable under various sections of IPC and UA(P) Act, have also been fined Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 5,000 respectively. They will have to spend another three months under RI in case of failure to deposit the fine.
Trial against an absconding Bangladeshi national, identified as Abdul Rahim, is continuing in the case relating to seizure of High Quality Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICNs) by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) in September 2019.
The DRI sleuths had seized 99 fake notes in the denomination of Rs.2,000 and two notes in the denomination of Rs. 500, having a total face value of Rs.1.99 lakh from Asim Sarkar, who was immediately taken into custody. Two other accused, Aladu alias Matahu and Faijul Sk, were arrested subsequently by NIA, which took over the case in October 2019. Faijul Sk is already serving a five-year jail sentence in the case.
The NIA investigations had found that all the four accused were involved in the criminal conspiracy to procure and circulate FICNs with the intention to use it as genuine for unlawful gain.
