Mumbai, Apr 8 (PTI) A special NIA court here has sentenced four members of a fake Indian currency notes syndicate, which had links to Bangladesh, to rigorous imprisonment ranging from 5 to 7 years.

While two of them were convicted on Monday, the other two were convicted on Tuesday. The case pertains to the seizure of 203 fake Indian currency notes (FICNs) with a face value of Rs 4.78 lakh from five persons at a paan shop near Sai Dhaba in Wadape, Bhiwandi in Maharashtra's Thane in October 2018, the NIA said in a statement on Tuesday.

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According to the National Investigation Agency's (NIA) probe, the four convicts used to circulate fake notes in different cities of India.

"They would also purchase small items from highway shops and tender fake notes in denomination of Rs 2,000, asking the shopkeepers to keep the change," the statement said.

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The local police arrested five accused -- Rehan Abbas Shaikh, Shafahad Mukhtar Ansari, Anees Iklak Shaikh, Kishor Namdeo Fular and Rohit Nagendra Singh -- in the case.

According to the statement, subsequent investigation by the NIA, which took over the case in December 2018, led to the arrest of four others -- Samir Mandal, Sabir Ali, Abdul Kadir and Mohammad Shadab Khan.

The NIA chargesheeted a total of nine accused in the case between January 2019 and April 2021, the statement said.

Of the arrested accused, Rehan, Shafahad, Rohit and Abdul pleaded guilty and were convicted earlier.

On Monday, Samir and Mohammad Shadab were sentenced to 7 years and 5 years of rigorous imprisonment, respectively. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on each of them. Failure to pay the fine would result in additional imprisonment, the NIA said.

On Tuesday, Anees and Kishor were sentenced to 5 years and 9 months rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 10,000 each. Failure to pay the fine would result in additional imprisonment, it said.

Bangladeshi national Karim Shaikh, a key accused, is absconding. The investigation into his role in the FICN racket, which was spread across Bangladesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra and other parts of India, is continuing, the NIA said.

The conspiracy was hatched by Anees of Mumbai and Samir of West Bengal while another accused, Kadir Shaikh, coordinated with and procured FICN from Karim Shaikh from across the border, the agency said.

Kadir Shaikh would deliver the currency to Samir through his brother Sabir Ali. Samir was also in touch with Anees, who asked Mohammad Shadab to collect FICN from Kolkata for him.

Further investigation revealed that Anees had engaged Rehan and Kishor, both of whom stayed in his neighbourhood, to circulate the fake currency across the country with the help of Shafhad and Rohit, the statement said.

Abdul used to be in contact with Karim Shaikh and other Bangladeshi nationals via mobile phone during the relevant period in 2018, it said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)