Man gets six years in jail for circulating fake Indian currency procured from Bangladesh

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A man was sentenced to six years in prison by a court in Bengaluru on Saturday for circulating counterfeit Indian currency notes procured from Bangladesh, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) reported.

The accused, Sariful Islam, also known as Sarifulla or Sharifuddin, hails from West Bengal. He was additionally fined Rs 5,000 for the crime, a statement issued by NIA said, reported news agency PTI. He is the seventh individual to be convicted in connection with this 2018 case.

The investigation revealed that Sariful Islam conspired with six others to traffic 41 fake Indian currency notes (FICNs) with a face value of Rs 82,000 from the Bangladesh border to various parts of India. NIA stated that Sariful Islam had illegally obtained a SIM card to communicate with his co-conspirators regarding the procurement and distribution of the counterfeit notes brought in from West Bengal.

Further investigations uncovered multiple transactions by Sariful Islam, including a previous delivery of FICNs with a face value of Rs 10.3 lakh to the main convict, Dalim Mia, in West Bengal. The conspiracy aimed to destabilise India's monetary system and economic security, according to NIA.

The agency is continuing its investigation against two Bangladeshi nationals who supplied FICNs in this case, in which NIA has so far filed three charge sheets.

NIA arrests key operative in CPI (Maoist) northern region revival attempt case

A day after extensive multi-state searches in the CPI (Maoist) northern region revival attempt case, NIA arrested a key accused, actively involved in the recruitment and fund collection activities for the banned organisation. The accused has been identified as Ajay Singhal, alias Aman, a native of Sonipat district in Haryana. He currently resides in SAS Nagar, Punjab, NIA stated on Saturday. As per the agency's investigations, Singhal was in charge of the State Organising Committee of CPI (Maoist) in Haryana, and actively involved in the revival of the activities of the banned organisation in the Northern Regional Bureau (NRB) states of Punjab, UP, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Delhi, and Himachal Pradesh, reported ANI. The accused had been visiting Jharkhand and Bihar to collect funds from Central Committee Member (CCM) Pramod Mishra alias Vanbihari and Sandeep Yadav, Commander/Secretary of Bihar-Jharkhand Special Area Committee (BJSAC). On Friday, NIA conducted searches at several locations in Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh in the case related to concerted attempts by leaders, cadres and sympathisers/Overground Workers (OGWs) of CPI (Maoist) to re-energise their influence in the NRB zone as part of their nefarious anti-India agenda. Further investigation is underway.

(With ANI and PTI inputs)