New Delhi:
The National Investigation Agency filed its third additional indictment on Wednesday in a terror plot case stemming from the seizure of high-quality counterfeit Indian banknotes from Bihar’s East Champaran, an official said.
Charges were filed in the NIA Special Court in Patna against Sudhir Kushwaha, the key figure in the case with ties to Nepal and Bangladesh, a spokesman for the federal investigation agency said.
In addition to gang members from these two countries, suspects from West Bengal and Jharkhand have also been arrested in the case, the official said.
The official said the investigation has revealed that Kushwaha was the main conspirator of the counterfeit Indian currency racket. The case was registered in 2015 and Kushwaha had played a vital role in the entire plot, the spokesman said.
Kushwaha had formed a gang to commit terrorist acts and had used the territory of India and Nepal to buy, smuggle and distribute high quality counterfeit banknotes to harm India’s monetary stability and economic security, the official said, adding that he was arrested in January of this year.
The official said the conspiracy came to light on 19 September 2015 following the seizure of counterfeit banknotes with a face value of Rs 5.94 lakh from the accused Afroz Ansari by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) near Ramgarhwa in Motihari in East Champaran.
The accused carried the counterfeit currency shipment to Raxaul near the India-Nepal border for further delivery in Nepal, the spokesman said.
The official said DRI Patna initially registered the case, which was taken over by NIA and re-registered on December 23, 2015. Investigations led to the arrest of seven individuals, who were charged over a four-year period from July 2016 to March 2019. said the spokesman.
Four of the accused, Afroz Ansari, Sunny Kumar alias “Sunny Shaw” alias “Sujit Kumar” alias “Kabir Khan”, Ashraful Alam alias “Ishraful Alam” and Alomgir Seikh alias “Raju” have since been found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. with a fine of Rs 30,000, under the IPC and the UAPA, the official said.
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