A National Investigation Agency (NIA) court here sentenced a man to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) on Thursday for his involvement in the smuggling of fake Indian currency notes, with the help of the West Bengal-based kingpin of a racket.
The court convicted Babloo, a native of Sitapur district in Uttar Pradesh, and pronounced three 10-year RI sentences, an official statement said, adding that the sentences will run concurrently.
He has also been fined Rs 20,000 each for the offences and will be liable to a further six months of simple imprisonment in case of default. He is the fourth accused to be convicted in the case that relates to the seizure of high-quality fake Indian currency notes (FICNs) by the Uttar Pradesh Police on November 25, 2019, from three accused.
The trio were identified as Phulchand, Aminul Islam and a juvenile, the statement issued by the NIA said.
They were intercepted with 298 notes, having a total face value of Rs 1.79 lakh. A case was initially registered by the state police in Lucknow, before being taken over by the NIA in January 2020.
NIA investigations revealed that the accused had conspired to smuggle, procure and keep high-quality FICNs in their possession.
The notes were being supplied from West Bengal’s Malda district and further circulated and supplied to various persons and consignees in Uttar Pradesh.
“Accused Aminul Islam was the main conspirator from Malda (WB) along with his associates. He used to bring the consignments of FICN from Malda, and the same was received by the other accused. Babloo was actively engaged in smuggling/trafficking of high-quality FICN, sourced from West Bengal, and he was also found to be in regular contact with accused Aminul Islam and Phulchand, as per the NIA investigations,” the statement said.
The Juvenile Justice Board, Lucknow had, in January 2022, convicted and sentenced the juvenile accused. Upon pleading guilty, Phulchand and Aminul Islam were also sentenced to five years in jail in January this year, the NIA said.