A special NIA court in Bihar has sentenced a key accused in the East Champaran fake currency case to seven years of rigorous imprisonment. The court also fined the accused Abi Mohammad Ansari, hailing from Nepal’s Bara district, in two separate cases.
Ansari has been convicted and awarded seven years of rigorous imprisonment and Rs 5,000 under Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) with is similar quantum of punishment and fine awarded under sections 489B and 489C of IPC and 16, 18, 20 of UA(P) Act, according to an official statement.
The Case
He is the second accused to be convicted in the case relating to the seizure of high-quality fake Indian currency notes, in the denomination of Rs 500 with a total face value of Rs 25,43,000, on September 30, 2015.
On that day, the other convicted accused, Mohd. Ali Akhtar Ansari had come to Gati Kintetsu Express Private Limited in Raxaul, to take delivery of the fake currency and was arrested.
During investigations, Mohd. Ali Akhtar Ansari disclosed that the seized currency notes were fake and had been smuggled from a foreign country into India.
He further revealed that the consignment was assigned to be delivered to Abi Mohammad alias Nabi Mohammad of Nepal through him.
Investigations further revealed that Syed Muhammad Shaffi, a Pakistani national residing in UAE, had couriered the parcel containing the fake currency from UAE through ICS (International Courier Service) to the arrested accused.
The consignment had been sourced from a foreign country through a complex network of FICN traffickers, NIA investigations showed.
The case was initially registered by DRI in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur on September 24, 2015, and re-registered by NIA on March 15, 2016.
Separate chargesheets were filed against the two accused, Mohd. Ali Akhtar Ansari and Abi Mohammad Ansari, on September 21, 2016 and October 14, 2017 respectively.
Mohd. Ali Akhtar Ansari was awarded 20 years of rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs 50,000 on July 18, 2022.
