NIA Kolkata Court sentences two accused to rigorous imprisonment in 2019 Malda fake currency seizure case

New Delhi [India], August 7 (ANI): 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).

According to the NIA, Asim Sarkar of Pilibhit (Uttar Pradesh) has been sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment, and his co-accused, Aladu alias Matur of Malda (West Bengal), will have to spend five years in jail under rigorous imprisonment as per the sentence pronounced by the special court, which has found both men guilty in the case RC-23/2019/NIA/DLI.

The two accused, who have been held culpable under various sections of the 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 rigorous imprisonment in case of failure to deposit the fine, the NIA stated.

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.

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 1,99,000 , from Asim Sarkar, who was immediately taken into custody.

Two other accused, Aladu alias Matahu and Faijul Sk, were arrested subsequently by the NIA, which took over the case in October 2019. Faijul Sk is already serving a 5-year jail sentence in the case.

NIA investigations had found that all four accused were involved in the criminal conspiracy to procure and circulate FICNs with the intention to use it as genuine for unlawful gain.