NIA ARRESTS KEY MEMBER IN FAKE CURRENCY CASE

LUCKNOW: The national investigation agency (NIA) on Tuesday arrested Babloo, a resident of Sitapur and a key member of the fake Indian currency notes racket (FICN) in Lucknow, NIA officials said on Wednesday.

The NIA official said the accused Babloo’s role had surfaced in the case after the arrest of three people by UP’s AntiTerror Squad (ATS) on November 25, 2019 when they unearthed the fake Indian currency notes (FICN) racket.

The ATS had seized the FICN worth ₹ 1. 79 lakhs from the three accused identified as Phulchand, Aminul Islam, and Nasiba Khatoon.

The NIA officials said the trio was arrested near Itaunja toll Plaza on Lucknow-Sitapur highway and the case was initially registered at the ATS police station in Gomtinagar, Lucknow.

Later, the NIA took over the case on January 20, 2020 and had filed a charge sheet against the three accused in this case.

NIA officials said, since then the NIA teams were in search of Babloo as the investigation in the case revealed that he was engaged in smuggling of high quality FICN and was in regular telephonic contact with the charge sheeted accused Aminul Islam and Phulchand.

He said investigation in the case has also revealed that accused had received the high quality FICN from Malda, West Bengal and had further circulated and supplied the same to various persons in different parts of Uttar Pradesh.

He said further investigation was on in the case.