Pak national gets 10-year RI in 2019 Rajasthan fake currency case

Jaipur, Nov 26 (IANS) A special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has sentenced a Pakistani national to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) in a 2019 fake currency case in Rajasthan. The accused, Ran Singh, has also been fined Rs 30,000 in the case which pertains to the seizure of high-quality Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) with a face value of Rs 94,000. 

Ran Singh was arrested in May 2019 at the Land Customs Station, Munnabao, Rajasthan, while his co-conspirator, another Pakistani national identified as Kunpji, remains absconding.

The NIA had chargesheeted both individuals in November 2019. The special court in Jaipur convicted Ran Singh under Sections 489B and 489C of the IPC, as well as Section 16 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, awarding him a fine of Rs 10,000 for each offence. Singh was detained after being found with 47 counterfeit notes of Rs 2,000 denomination at Munnabao Railway Station in Barmer district.

Investigators said Singh had entered India from Pakistan via the Thar Express and was allegedly lured into smuggling fake currency by Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the ISI. During checks at the railway station, security personnel detected the concealed currency in his luggage and took him into custody.

“The man belongs to Pakistan and travelled in the Thar Express. We found 47 fake currency notes following which he was detained and interrogated,” an officer said. According to officials, he is a resident of Mithi in Pakistan’s Sindh province. The NIA continues its search for the absconder Kunpji.

The case is part of a broader pattern observed by Indian security agencies, which have frequently flagged attempts by Pakistan-based operatives to push FICN into India to destabilise the economy and fund unlawful activities.

The National Investigation Agency -- India's premier counter-terror probe agency -- has played a central role in dismantling FICN networks over the past decade.

Set up in 2009 after the Mumbai terror attacks, the NIA is empowered to investigate offences that have national or cross-border implications, including terrorism financing, smuggling, organised crime with security ramifications, and cases involving foreign-hosted networks.

The agency routinely coordinates with state police forces, Customs authorities and international partners.

In recent years, several high-quality FICN smuggling modules routed through Nepal, Bangladesh and the Pakistan border have been neutralised following NIA-led investigations.

--IANS

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