New Delhi, May 20 (PTI) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday filed a chargesheet against another accused for allegedly being part of a conspiracy to circulate Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) in Gujarat.

Abdul Gaffar alias Gaffarbhai, a resident of Bihar's Katihar, was on the run since 2019. He was nabbed from Ahmedabad on February 22, according to a statement issued by the NIA.

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The premier investigating agency filed its first supplementary chargesheet against Gaffar in a special NIA court in Ahmedabad, alleging his involvement in a criminal conspiracy hatched by several accused for circulation and distribution of fake currency notes in Gujarat, it said.

Giving details, the NIA said the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Surat had in June 2019 arrested one Vinod Nishad alias Vinod Sahani from the Surat railway station with FICN of Rs 2 lakh face value in Rs 2,000 denomination.

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The receiver, Mahefuz Shaikh, was also arrested and a case under the Customs Act, 1962 registered.

Three accused were arraigned in the case -- the duo arrested by the DRI and an absconder -- the statement said.

Considering the national security ramifications and international linkages, the Ministry of Home Affairs transferred the case to the NIA on July 18, 2019.

Following investigations against the two arrested accused, the NIA filed its first chargesheet in the Ahmedabad court in August 2019. In the chargesheet, Gaffar was named as a wanted accused.

Nishad and Shaikh were subsequently convicted, sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment and slapped with a fine of Rs 10,000 each in November 2022, but Gaffar continued to abscond till his arrest three months ago.

According to the NIA investigations, Gaffar had purchased FICN with a face value of Rs 2 lakh from one Hafeez alias Malda and sold it to Nishad in exchange for Rs 88,000 genuine currency.

The fake currency then reached Shaikh for circulation among the people of Gujarat, the federal probe agency said.

Besides working as an agent for various FICN smugglers in the instant case, Gaffar is convicted in two previous cases of fake Indian currency notes trafficking.

He was sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment and slapped with a penalty by the Economic Offences Court in Bihar's Muzaffarpur in a 2015 DRI case.

On his release, he got involved in the present case and another one.

"While in the latter case, he has since been convicted by a Kolkata court," the NIA said, adding that investigations to trace the other absconding accused are on.

(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)