HC upholds jail for 3 on fake notes

The Hyderabad High Court on Friday upheld the conviction of Masood Akhter, Mohammed Shafi and Shaik Akram the city-based Special NIA Court for circulating fake currency in India in collusion with Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals.

While dismissing the appeals by the three convicts, a division bench comprising Justice C.V. Nagarjuna Reddy and Justice M.S.K. Jaiswal said that there was no warrant of interference in the verdict of the special court as it has convicted the guilty by considering certain vital evidence and the facts.

The bench observed that the prosecution has failed to place the evidence to prove that there was a conspiracy involved in the circulation of the fake currency in the country.

The special court has sentenced the appellants for five years of rigorous imprisonment for circulating fake `500 and `1,000 notes in the year 2015.

The prosecution has charged that three convicts have circulated the fake currency by forming as a gang with Morjan Hussain of West Bengal and Rakeeb Shaik and others with the help of Mohammed Iliyas and Shaik Iliyas Anwar of Pakistan and Shariff Shaik of Bangladesh and also with help of some Dubai-based persons.

Mr A.T.M. Ranga Ramanujam, senior counsel of the Supreme Court appearing for appellants, argued that the lower court had erroneously found the appellants as guilty even though there was no evidence to prove that they had nexus with alleged fake currency operators of Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Mr. P. Vishnu Vardhan Reddy, prosecutor of the NIA, submitted that the special court has considered the fact in convicting the appellants that the Pakistan government has been pumping about `50 lakh to `60 lakh worth fake currency in India every day and the same was being used for funding terror activities.