Cops arrest trader in fake currency case

Probe on to detect link, if any, between currency racket and August 25 blasts

Update: Satish Dattani was exonerated by the Court of XII ACMM on 26.11.07. This was based on the conclusion of the investigating agency that he did not indulge in the transport, circulation, printing etc of counterfeit Indian currency, nor was any found in his possession.

A team of the Hyderabad Police crime branch, assisted by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad, on Wednesday arrested businessman Satish Datwani alias Sunny in connection with the Rs 2.5-crore fake currency seizure at Hyderabad two days before the August 25 twin blasts there.

Police sources said Datwani, who was based in Hong Kong till his return to Mumbai in 2006, deals in electronic gaming machines and toys.

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Confirming his arrest, Hyderabad Police’s Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Punna Rao said: “Yes, he has been arrested in connection with the fake currency seizure which happened before the blasts. He has been arrested for allegedly being part of the conspiracy and accepting part of the consignment for circulation.”

However, police sources said investigations following the arrest of four persons, including a Dubai resident, revealed that Datwani was given a few lakhs from the consignment of fake currency on the orders of Dawood Ibrahim aide Khuda Baksh, who the police suspect is one of the masterminds in the racket. Khuda Baksh has been named an absconding accused in the case.

Sources said Datwani also has business interests in Dubai and it was there that he had entered into a business deal with Bobby Anthony, whose credentials the police are now verifying.

The police sources added that when Anthony failed to pay Datwani, he told him that he should contact Khuda Baksh who would make arrangements for the payment. “We will be investigating as to whether the accused has done business in a similar manner in the past and received money as in this case,” said a Hyderabad Police official involved in the investigation.

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The Hyderabad Police—who are also investigating if the fake currency haul has any links to the twin blasts—have claimed finding strong links of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Dawood-backed networks in smuggling the consignment of high quality fake currency notes into Hyderabad through the Middle East using the sea route. “Our investigations are still on and we will arrest not only those who were involved in circulating (the fake notes) but also those who helped in transporting the consignment to Hyderabad,” the officer said.