BENGALURU: After the Ministry of Home Affairs entrusted two cases registered in Karnataka over circulation of Rs 2,000 fake Indian currency notes to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Mumbai, the agency has taken custody of one of the accused housed in the Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara for custodial interrogation.
Allowing the application filed by the NIA-Mumbai, NIA Special Court Judge Siddalinga Prabhu passed the order to hand over Gangadhar Kolkar to the agency for 15 days.
The court observed that the accused was required for interrogation to ascertain the supply chain of fake notes, and also to trace other members of the gang involved in "damaging the monetary stability of India".
“Registration of two similar cases within a span of 8-10 months within Karnataka in connection with circulation of fake Indian currency notes of the face value of `2,000 underlines the seriousness of the case in hand. Therefore, this court is of the view that NIA deserves an opportunity to interrogate..." the NIA court said.
Kolkar’s counsel opposed the NIA’s application seeking custody of the accused, contending that nothing was recovered by the agency from the house of the accused, and he was described as "wanted accused" in the chargesheet. In counter, the Special Public Prosecutor, NIA, drew the attention to the interception of phones calls of Kolkar with the other accused.
The NIA Court said Kolkar is involved not only in the case registered in Chikkodi police station but also in a similar case registered by the Madanayakanahalli police. It can also be noted that Kolkar had been absconding since March 2018 till he was arrested on August 7, the court said.
‘ACT OF TERRORISM’
The court also pointed out that as per the definition of ‘terrorist act’ as defined in Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, any action or omission in damaging the monetary stability of India amounts to ‘terrorist activity’.