NIA court convicts seven, including two from Karnataka, in 2015 fake currency case

A Special Court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Visakhapatnam convicted seven persons, including two from Karnataka, in a 2015 Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) case involving cross-border trafficking of high-quality counterfeit currency.

The court awarded simple imprisonment (SI) ranging from seven to ten years, along with fines, under various provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

The convicted accused are Saddam Hossain, Amirul Hoque of Barpeta district and Mohammed Akber Ali from Kamrup district in Assam; Roustum and Mohammad Hakim Sheikh of Malda district in West Bengal; and Saddam Hussein from Bengaluru, Sayed Imran from Mandya in Karnataka.

Key convictions

Saddam Hossain of Barpeta district was sentenced to 10 years’ simple imprisonment and a fine of ₹5,000 under Section 16 of the UA(P) Act. He was arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Visakhapatnam, in September 2015 after high-quality FICN with a face value of ₹5,01,500 was seized from him at Visakhapatnam Railway Station while he was travelling by train.

Amirul Hoque, also from Barpeta, was sentenced to 10 years’ SI and fined ₹5,000 under Section 18 of the UA(P) Act. Roustum of Malda district was sentenced to seven years’ SI and a fine of ₹2,000 under Section 20 of the UA(P) Act. Mohammad Hakim Sheikh, also from Malda, received eight years’ SI and a fine of ₹5,000 under Section 18 of the Act.

From Karnataka, Saddam Hussein of Bengaluru district and Sayed Imran of Mandya district were each sentenced to seven years’ SI and fined ₹2,000 under Section 20 of the UA(P) Act. According to NIA, Sayed Imran is also a convict in another FICN case investigated by the agency in Visakhapatnam. A similar sentence was imposed on Mohammed Akber Ali of Kamrup district, Assam.

‘Disrupting financial security’

Investigation found that the accused were part of a larger conspiracy involving trafficking of high-quality counterfeit currency through the Indo-Bangladesh border and its circulation in different parts of the country. The racket was aimed at disrupting India’s financial security, NIA claimed.

The NIA took over the case in December 2015. The agency filed its first chargesheet against Saddam Hossain in July 2016, followed by supplementary chargesheets against the remaining six accused in 2018 and 2019.