A team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) would soon visit Odisha to work with the Commissionerate Police in interrogating Mohammed Rubel, who was recently arrested from Bhubaneswar for trying to use counterfeit notes.
The Commissionerate Police on Wednesday took Rubel on a three-day remand to interrogate him further after evidence surfaced that the connection of the fake currency racket in Odisha extends to Bangladesh. Besides, the NIA might take him on another remand to question him separately.
Rubel had long been under the scanner of the NIA and had shifted his base to Odisha from West Bengal’s Malda district to avoid the agency.
“The NIA had arrested a man named Shahjahan from Malda in May this year and eized fake currencies worth `20 lakh from him. Rubel is one of the close aides of Shahjahan. He came over to Odisha following Shahjahan’s arrest,” said a senior police officer, who is part of the Commissionerate Police investigating team.
“The Commissionerate Police are now interrogating him to figure out the roots of the racket and the routes through which the counterfeit notes are brought to Odisha. Besides, involvement of other people is another important angle of investigation,” he added.
As per information provided by Police Commissioner Rajendra Prasad Sharma, city cops have managed to unearth highly significant information from him and are trying to validate them on their own. The cops might visit Malda for further investigation, if required.
Notably, the Commissionerate Police on October 31 had detained Rubel for transacting counterfeit currencies at a mobile phone store in the Bomikhal area of Bhubaneswar. While he gave 10 notes of `1,000 denomination to the shopkeeper, the latter suspected it to be fake and informed the Sahid Nagar police.
The police swung into action and picked up the 30-year-old man. later, six more counterfeit notes were recovered from him.