No conviction of fake currency rackateers in Andhra

U SUDHAKAR REDDY
Though terror networks have been introducing fake currency into the Indian markets, including in Andhra Pradesh, the conviction rate remains abysmal. Since 2006, police has achieved conviction only in one case.
The Andhra Pradesh police has not been pursuing counterfeit currency cases seriously though Pakistan-based Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and terror groups are pumping in fake notes to destabilise the economy.
The conviction rate in fake currency cases in the state is abysmally low. Since 2006, police could achieve conviction only in one case.Burdened as it is with regular law and order and crime duties, police has failed to investigate such cases properly.
In 2008, out of 304 fake note cases, charge-sheet was filed only in 20 cases and 212 cases are still under investigation. As many as 72 cases are in the "undetected" category and 19 are pending for trial.
"Counterfeit currency cases are piling up in the state," said a senior police officer.
In the last eight years, sleuths have busted 10 major fake currency rackets sponsored by the ISI and arrested 25 persons. They also recovered counterfeit currency worth about three crore rupees.
In certain cases in which international gangs are involved, investigation had been extended to West Bengal and Gujarat.But no initiative was taken for this in many instances. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) files the cases with Saifabad police, which does not have the staff strength to investigate them."We are transferring the cases as we don't have staff to probe them," said the Saifabad ACP, Mr Narottham Reddy. Alarmingly, in recent instances the investigators found that some bank employees are also involved in the circulation of fake currency.
The issue came to the limelight again the other week with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) warning that ISI has pumped in fake currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs1,000.
The Reserve Bank of India has also issued a similar warning and said that certain banks are not following currency chest guidelines, allowing fake currency to slip in.
According to the city police, counterfeit cur rency is routed through Bangladesh from Pakistan.
"In the Rs 38 lakh seizure the trail lead up to West Bengal, and the accused confessed that they got the currency from Bangladesh," said Mr V.B. Kamalasan Reddy, the task force deputy commissioner of police.
He added that police had not been able to trace any links to terror groups yet. "Links with hawala operators cannot be ruled out," he said.
In another fake currency case, names of three Pak istanis have figured in the investigation. Two key racketeers, Aftab Bhatki, a native of Mumbai, and Babu Gaithan, a native of Barkas in the city, could not be nabbed. They are both in Dubai and the Andhra Pradesh police has sought the help of the Interpol to catch them but nothing has been done do far.
In August 2007, police seized counterfeit currency worth Rs 2.36 crore and arrested a UAE national and three others from the city. But the kingpin of the rack et, Kamlesh, based in Hong Kong, is still absconding.
Even as investigation remains lax, the state crime . records bureau statistics show that there is in an t increase in counterfeit cur rency cases by 66.5 per cent every year. Around 343 cases of fake currency are reported in a year., The police said that East Godavari, Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam were the nerve centres of fake cur rency circulation in the state.
Hyderabad has become a transit point for receiving consignments of counterfeit currency from UAE (Dubai) from where it is taken to various places in the coun try.
The fake currency coming to the state is of high quality and RBI officials say it is very difficult to distinguish it from the real stuff. The number of counterfeit cur rency detected per million t notes in the banking channel is only eight.
"A layman will not be able to identify the fake notes,"said the DCP. "Such is the precision with which they are made. They have most of the latest security fea. tures."