Crime-NIA arrests man from Bengal in fake currency seizure case

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Thursday arrested an absconding accused in the Bhiwandi Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICNs) seizure case from Malda district in West Bengal, an official said. Sabir Jullur Rehman Ali was arrested from his hometown Safdarpur in Malda district, he said.

He was actively involved in procurement, trafficking, and supply of counterfeit currency notes, he said. Sabir Ali's name had cropped during the interrogation of other accused who were apprehended in 2018 from Bhiwandi in neighboring Thane district, the NIA official said.

Earlier, six people were arrested in connection with the seizure of 239 fake currency notes, all in the denomination of Rs 2,000 and having a face value of Rs 4.78 lakh, in Bhiwandi, he said. The accused were identified as Rehan Shaikh, Shafahad Ansari, Anees Shaikh, Kishor Fular and Rohit Singh (all held from Bhiwandi) and Samir Kalicharan Mandal (arrested from West Bengal), he said.

The investigation into the case was taken over by the NIA following which it came to light that arrested accused were in touch with one Abdul Kadir, a Bangladesh national, for the procurement of FICNs, he said. Kadir had coordinated with another wanted to be accused, Karim Shaikh, a Bangladesh national, and procured FICNs with a face value of Rs 5 lakh from him, the official said.

Kadir had delivered the said FICNs to Mandal through his brother Sabir Ali, he said. Thursday, the NIA's Mumbai unit arrested Sabir Ali from West Bengal and produced him before a court in Malda for transit remand, he said.

He will be produced before the special NIA court in Mumbai, where the investigative agency will seek his remand for interrogation, the official said. The NIA has already filed a charge-sheet in the case against the six accused arrested earlier.