Fake notes of around Rs. 4 lakh seized from Malda, two arrested

National Investigation Agency (NIA), along with Bengal Police, arrested two persons from a hotel near Malda Railway Station on the charge of stocking fake Indian currency note (FICN).

On Sunday night, investigators booked the two accused Talat Mehmood and Golam Murtaza. Police recovered Rs 3.98 lakh in fake currency, all of which were Rs 2,000 notes, from the accused.

Both are residents of English Bazar. Mehmood belongs to Budhia village of English Bazar, while Murtaza is from of Kamalabari in the same area. The two were interrogated for some time. The sleuths are now trying to locate the source from the fake notes came to India. Investigators believed that the notes were made in Bangladesh.

This is the third incident in a span of 30 days where the police have nabbed culprits with FICN.

An alarming fact about the fake notes being seized by police is that in some cases, out of the 17 exclusive security features – that the Narendra Modi-government at the Centre claims the Rs 2,000 note is equipped with – 14 were successfully copied by the fake currency makers.

It may be recalled that on Saturday night police arrested a person on the charge of stocking counterfeit Indian currency from Rathbari in Malda. Investigators arrested 45-year-old Mukulesh Mian, alias Bhutto and seized fake Rs 2,000 notes worth Rs 92,000.

Meanwhile, the Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has started a probe into the FICN smuggling racket.

The investigation was initiated after a few cases of smuggling of fake Rs 2,000 notes were reported from Malda and Murshidabad in the past couple of weeks.

Sources said that DRI officials also believe that fake notes came from Bangladesh, more specifically from the Malda-Murshidabad border. They suspect that the smugglers used river transport to bring the notes.