Big fish of fake currency racket slip through police net,small fry held

As per information obtained by The Indian Express from the Pune city police under the Right to Infomation (RTI) Act,between January 2008 and April 2012,166 cases of FICN circulation were registered,but only 49 people were arrested.

Of these arrested people,23 hail from West Bengal,including 21 from Malda district,allegedly the hub of the fake Indian currency notes racket in India. Others arrested include individuals from Jharkhand,Bihar,Rajasthan,besides Pune and Mumbai. Persons from two foreign countries — Iran and Oman — too were arrested.

The city police arrested 17 suspects in 2008,seven in 2009 and six in 2010. The highest number of arrests (19) was in 2011. The same year,five minor boys were detained. In 2012,five cases were registered but no arrests were made.

Of those held in 2011,eight persons and five minors,all hailing from Malda,were booked in three cases registered at Samarth,Faraskhana and Bund Garden police stations. Police recovered Rs 3.93 lakh in fake Indian currency notes from the suspects,which included 117 fake notes of notional denomination Rs 1,000,and 552 notes of notional denomination Rs 500.

Investigations revealed that the suspects got the fake notes from a man called Bullu Akhtar Abdul Kasim (22),also from Malda. Bullu fled from Pune but was arrested by the Kurla police in Mumbai. Pune Police teams interrogated Bullu and travelled to his native place in Malda for investigation. However,the police could not trace any further links.

Assistant inspector Mohammed Hanif Patel,who arrested Bullu,said the latter had cases registered against him in Pune,Mumbai and Nagpur,but he was a small link in the chain. “Those working above Bullu could not be traced. It is a highly organised crime. Bullu and his aides had deposited Rs 2 lakh at Punjab National Bank (PNB) in Pune,which they had earned from fake Indian currency notes circulation. The money was withdrawn within minutes by the racketeers in other parts of country. We sealed the account in PNB but could not locate the account holder,one Abdul Rehman in Malda,” he said.

Inspector Bhagwant Ingle said,“Racketeers brought poor people from Malda to Pune on the pretext of work on telephone lines in city. However,once in Pune,the racketeers engaged them in fake Indian currency notes circulation by promising them a share of the money earned.”

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested some people alleged to be key to the fake Indian currency notes racket from Malda this year. According to government figures,in 2011,nearly 85 per cent of the FICN seized in India was from Maharashtra. Mumbai recorded the largest number of seizures of fake currency,followed by Pune.