Hyderabad: A special NIA court here on Thursday convicted 15 persons in a 2012 case of circulation of huge quantity of counterfeit Indian currency notes and sentenced them to rigorous imprisonment ranging from four to five years.
A total of 25 persons were chargesheeted and 15 of them were convicted by the court of the First Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge-cum-NIA special court. Out of the rest, nine accused were acquitted while one accused is facing the trial in a juvenile court.
A total amount of Rs 31,57,200 had been seized from the accused.
"In view of that huge counterfeit currency notes are found in possession of accused and are seized at the instance of accused, only presumption that could be drawn is that the accused were in possession of these notes with an intention of using them as genuine," Judge G Lakshmipati observed in his orders.
NIA had busted the pan-India network of fake currency notes (FICN) racketeers in 2012 in which Morjen Hossain of Malda district in West Bengal and Mohd Hussain of Uttar Pradesh, Bablu Sheikh of Jharkhand and Mohd Rakib Shaik of Medak district in Telangana and others were involved.
The counterfeit notes were in the denomination of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 and were circulated through a huge network of persons working as construction labourers and by others under various disguises in Delhi, West Bengal, UP, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, NIA said.
The court convicted Morjen Hossain along with Mohd Rakib, Rizavul Haque, Manik Shaik, Bablu Sheikh, Mohsin Sheikh and Imran Khan under section 489 B (using as genuine forged or counterfeit currency-notes or bank-notes) of IPC and sentenced them to rigorous imprisonment of 5 years.
The court also found them guilty under section 489 C of IPC (possession of forged or counterfeit currency-notes or bank-notes) and sentenced them to rigorous imprisonment for four years.
Both the sentences will run concurrently.
Among other accused, Mohammed Hussain, Musthafa Ali Buddan, Masood Akhtar Ansari, Mohammed Shafi and Shaik Akram were convicted under section 489 B of IPC and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of five years.
Of the rest, Mohammed Anwar Sheikh, Sajibul Haque and Janab Hassan were convicted under section 489 C of IPC and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of four years.
All the accused were also fined with amount ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 each.
