NIA arrests absconding FICN racketeer in West Bengal

Bengaluru: The National Investigation Agency on Friday arrested an absconding Fake Indian Currency Notes racketeer from West Bengal, officials said.

S K Jahiruddin alias Jahir’, a resident of Par Sujapur village of Murshidabad in West Bengal, was arrested after remaining on the run for the past three years, a spokesperson of the agency said.

He has been produced before the court of the chief judicial magistrate of Malda for seeking transit warrant to produce him before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Special Court in Bengaluru, the agency said.

Jahiurddin was wanted in a case which was originally registered at the Madanayakanahalli police station in Bengaluru on August 7, 2018, relating to the seizure of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) having face value of Rs 6,84,000 in denomination of Rs 2,000 from four people.

The NIA had re-registered the case on September 6, 2018, after taking over the investigation from police, the spokesperson said, adding that the NIA had earlier filed three charge sheets against six accused persons. The spokesperson said the investigation has revealed that Jahiruddin is a close aide of arrested Abdul Kadir and Sabiruddin who had procured FICN from their associates in Bangladesh and supplied the same to their other associates in India for circulation in various parts of the country.

“Further investigation in the case continues,” the NIA said.

This was the second arrest of absconding FICN racketeers from West Bengal within six days.

On June 20, the NIA had arrested Sariful Islam alias Sarifulla, a resident of Babupura-Baishnabnagar in Malda district of West Bengal, who was also wanted in a separate case related to FICN circulation in the country.

Islam was carrying a reward of Rs 50,000 on his head and he was wanted in a case which was initially registered on March 12, 2018, at the Chikkodi police station in Karnataka following the arrest of two FICN racketeers and seizure of FICN of face value of Rs 82,000.

The NIA had re-registered the case after taking over the investigation on April 14, 2018 while the special NIA court Bengaluru had earlier convicted five accused persons in the case for their role in procurement and circulation of FICN and sentenced them to imprisonment for six years.