Six Hizbul Mujahideen supporters awarded six years RI for transferring fake currency

Six militant sympathizers, who acted as courier agents to transfer fake currency for militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, were awarded six years rigorous imprisonment by the Special Judge for NIA cases, Haq Nawaz Zargar, in Jammu on Saturday. The six accused include Shahid Sheikh and Zakir Hussain, residents of West Bengal, Mubarak Ahmed and Shafqat Mohi-ud-Din Kucchey of Kulgam in Jammu and Kashmir and Salim and Badal Sheikh. They were arrested by police in the Janipura area with fake currency worth Rs 35,000 along with two letter heads of Hizbul Mujahideen in January 2011.

Later, after the apprehended disclosed details to the police, police seized fake currency worth Rs 1.10 lakh from the rented accommodation of one of them. The case was later handed over to NIA.

Disposing of the first case of NIA, the judge, while awarding sentence to the accused, observed that currency is the backbone of any economy and helps people in their day to day transactions, whether commercial or household and its use is indispensable. General acceptability and faith of the public in it are the basic prerequisite of its existence, he added.

The presence of forged or counterfeit currency in any economy can shackle smooth functioning of the economy, the judge observed, adding that in extreme cases it can also result in loss of people’s faith in the currency and thus in the economic system. Penetration of counterfeit currency notes can affect basic frame of the economic activities and lead the economy to doldrums, he added.