The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday said a Special Court in Bengaluru has convicted a sixth accused who is a woman in the Bengaluru fake currency case, involving smuggling of huge quantities of high quality fake Indian currency notes (FICN) from Bangladesh into India via Karnataka.
Vanitha alias Thangam has been sentenced to six years of imprisonment under section 489-B (trafficking as genuine, forged or counterfeit currency-notes or bank-notes) of the Indian Penal Code, five years imprisonment under Section 489-C (possession of counterfeit currency) of the IPC and two years jail under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC, besides a total fine of Rs 20,000. The sentences will run concurrently.
Karnataka Police had seized high quality Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICNs) of Face Value Rs 2,50,000 from Vanitha in the case, in which a joint operation by the State police and NIA had originally led to the seizure of fake notes of face value of Rs 4,34,000 from the possession of three accused persons.
The case was initially registered by Karnataka Police as FIR No. 431/2018 under various sections of IPC based on the complaint of an NIA officer. NIA had subsequently re-registered the case and mounted a surveillance and conducted thorough investigation which led to the exposure of the FICN racket headed by the prime accused, Abdul Khadir.
Further investigations by NIA had indicated a potential transaction of fake notes by three persons in Bengaluru.
Between 2016 and 2022, the NIA filed chargesheets against a total of eight persons, of whom three accused, identified as Mohammed Sajjad Ali alias Chachu, M G Raju alias Master and Abdul Khadir, were convicted by the special court.
The trio was sentenced to a similar duration along with a fine of Rs 20,000. Two other accused, Gangadhar Kholkar and Sabiruddin, were subsequently also convicted and sentenced by the NIA Special Court.