New Delhi, Aug 29 (IANS): A Special NIA court in Patna has awarded seven years rigorous imprisonment to a key accused in the East Champaran fake currency case.

While awarding the jail term to the accused Abi Mohammad Ansari, the court also imposed a fine of Rs 5000 under Section 120B of IPC.

Ansari, who is a resident of Nepal's Bara district, is the second accused to be convicted in the case relating to the seizure of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN).

The high quality FICN, in the denomination of Rs 500 with total face value of Rs 25,43,000, was seized on September 30, 2015. On that day, the other convicted accused, Mohd Ali Akhtar Ansari had come to Gati Kintetsu Express Private Limited, Raxaul, to take delivery of the fake currency and was arrested.

During investigations, Akhtar Ansari disclosed that the seized currency notes were fake and had been smuggled from a foreign country into India.

He further revealed that the consignment was assigned to be delivered to Abi Mohammad alias Nabi Mohammad of Nepal through him.

"Investigations further revealed that Syed Muhammad Shaffi, a Pakistani national residing in UAE, had couriered the parcel containing the fake currency from UAE through ICS (International Courier Service) to the arrested accused. The consignment had been sourced from a foreign country

through a complex network of FICN traffickers, NIA investigations showed," said the NIA.

The case was initially registered by DRI, Muzaffarpur, Bihar on September 24, 2015 and re-registered by NIA on March 15, 2016. Separate charge sheets were filed against the two accused, Mohd. Ali Akhtar Ansari and Abi Mohammad Ansari, on September 21, 2016 and October 14, 2017 respectively.

Ansari was awarded 20 years RI with a fine of Rs. 50,000 on July 18, 2022.