A Dawood Link Crops Up in NIA’s Probe On Fake Rs 2.000 Notes

There has been a lot of talk if counterfeiting would come down after the Reserve Bank of India said that it would stop printing the Rs 2,000 notes.

Earlier this month the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed an application relating to a case dated 2021 in a special court in Mumbai, seeking the custody of two accused persons. The NIA, which took over the case earlier this year was able to trace the masterminds of the fake currency racket.

The NIA said that Javed Patel alias Javed Chikna was involved in circulating these high-quality fake notes of Rs 2,000. Javed is a close aid of proscribed terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, who is also an accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts. Javed himself is a designated terrorist.

In 2021, two persons, Riyaz Abdul Suleman Shikilkar were arrested in Thane and counterfeit notes of Rs 2,000 was seized from them. They were caught with 149 notes.

The two accused were trafficking and circulating the fake currency on the instructions of a wanted person whose code name was 'uncle.' The NIA has said that the said person they were referring to is Javed. He is operating from a Malaysian number, but the IP address of his WhatsApp has been traced to Pakistan, the NIA also found.

The NIA said that those persons arrested are part of an international syndicate which is involved in printing and circulating fake currency notes. The intention is to damage the monetary stability of India, the NIA also said.