ASIM KUMAR Saha, who was arrested three days ago for his alleged involvement in the seizure of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) in Malda, may have direct links with members of the D-Company, a group led by gangster Dawood Ibrahim, operating from Bangladesh, sources in the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said. The call records of Saha, a Malda resident, have reportedly revealed that he was in touch with D-Company members active in Bangladesh, said an NIA officer. “The associates of D-Company members such as Aftab Batki, Iqbal Khana and Sheikh Safi actively operate from Bangladesh. Saha was in contact with them through phone,” said a source. NIA sources said the probe so far has revealed that Saha used to receive fake notes from Bangladesh-based suppliers. Saha was reportedly an important liaison between Bangladesh and India when it came to the FICN racket. “Saha, over the years, had established a superb domestic network. He had great control over routes that he used to bring fake notes to the Indian market. At the time of his arrest, he was the Bengal operation head of the racket,” said a NIA official. Watch What Else is Making News In May 2015, NIA arrested Sunesh Kumar Sharma alias Ganesh and Rajan Chopra — residents of Haryana and Punjab, respectively — heads of FICN racket in north India. This was followed by the arrest of Amerul Seikh, a resident of Malda, in December 2015. This year, two other members of FICN racket — Jahirul alias Jahir Sekh and Alam Sekh — were arrested. While interrogating them, NIA came to know that Saha was virtually controlling the domestic market by supplying them fake currency from Bangladesh. This later led to his arrest. Sources said earlier, Bangladesh FICN smugglers used to hand over fake currency to Alam Seikh, which was then passed on to Jahirul Seikh and Amerul Sekh. But Saha went on to develop a good network in Bangladesh and started supplying fake currency to Sunesh kumar and Rajan.
