Bihar fake currency case: NIA court sentences key accused to five years' rigorous imprisonment

A special NIA court in Bihar has sentenced a key accused in the East Champaran fake currency case to five years' rigorous imprisonment, an official said on Sunday.

Raisuddin, a resident of Mohanpur village in West Bengal's Malda district, was also fined Rs 5,000.

The court convicted him in the 2015 case on August 18. He was sentenced on Saturday, a spokesperson for the federal agency said.

He has been sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs 5,000 under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the official said.

Raisuddin is the fifth person to be convicted and sentenced in the case relating to the East Champaran Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) case.

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Patna, initially registered a case on September 19, 2015, following the seizure of high-quality FICN with a face value of Rs 5,94,000 (Rs 5.94 lakh) from another accused, Afroz Ansari. Ansari was carrying the FICN consignment to Raxaul near the India-Nepal border for delivery in Nepal. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) subsequently took over the case and re-registered it on December 23, 2015.

''Thorough investigation by the NIA led to the arrest and charge-sheeting of eight accused over the past eight years,'' the official said.

''Of these, four accused -- Afroz Ansari, Sunny Kumar alias Sunny Shaw alias Sujit Kumar alias Kabir Khan, Ashraful Alam alias Ishraful Alam and Alomgir Seikh alias Raju -- were convicted by the special NIA court on October 11, 2018. They were sentenced to life in prison and fined Rs 30,000 each,'' the official said and added that the trial proceedings against the remaining three accused are ongoing.

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