Till now ISI was importing terrorism to India. Now the Indian economy is on its target through pumping in fake currency. A gang of fake currency was recently unearthed in UP.
UP police has busted a gang of unsocial elements who were involved in fake currency business all over the state. Two persons?Abid Beg and Sudhaker Tripathi, the cashier of Dumariaganj branch of State Bank of India (Siddharthnagar district)?have been arrested. Both the culprits have accepted their crime. They have also accepted the involvement of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan. After the initiative of UP police, the SBI has seized fake currency worth over a crore only in Dumariaganj branch. Special Task Force (STF) and Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of UP police are investigating the whole racket. Additional Director General of Police accepted that the gang has a cross-border connection especially in Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh and ISI is the main mastermind.
First, we should know about the whole racket of fake currency eating into the vitals of the country. UP police had written a letter to RBI in March 2007. In the letter, RBI was requested to screen the counterfeit currency worth crores of rupees, which was feared to have been pumped into circulation. This could have been detected and stooped from circulation but in vain. Siddharthnagar police arrested Abid with fake currency worth five lakh worth on 29th. Thereafter the police forwarded a request to the Reserve Bank of India on the possibility of fake currency notes traced in bank chests. After this RBI put to alert. Abid has revealed that a chunk of fake currency was pumped into circulation through the bank in connivance with its cashier Sudhaker Tripathi who was arrested subsequently. STF also seized Rs 7.21 lakh in cash of genuine Indian currency from Sudhaker'shouse. On the request of STF Reserve Bank of India directed the SBI to screen the notes in the Dumariaganj SBI chest.
There are Rs 183 crore are in the chest. The screening of notes has revealed that the whole racket of fake currency is being run by ISI. In first round of screening fake currency worth Rs 20 lakh was found. In the second round fake currency worth Rs 46. 20 lakh was found. In the third round of screening fake currency worth Rs one crore was found. Further screening is going on. By the time the entire cash in the chest is screened, the count of fake currency notes may break all records of seizure.
In the country, this could be the biggest seizure of fake currency from a bank'schest. As per statistics available with the government, fake currency worth Rs 5.57 crore was recovered in 2002 which increased to Rs 6.81 crore in 2004.
UP is being used as the main channel for pumping in fake currency along with arms and ammunition by Pakistan through Nepal route till 2005. The route was abandoned after the STF neutralized a number of ISI modules. However, for the last two years, the quantum of fake currency being pumped in is shocking. The Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS)and the Special Task Force (STF) of the UP police had separately busted two gangs involved in supply of counterfeit currency in the recent past. The interrogation of those arrested in two cases revealed that some bank employees were hand in glove with the gang. The fake currency was being apparently printed and provided to gangs by agents in Nepal and Bangladesh, understood to be working for ISI.
Abid having connection with the ISI is the racked involved in this crime.
