Madhya Pradesh may have been free from terror attacks so far but the state is being used as a safe haven for organisations linked with terror. And it has also become a transit point for FICN
BHOPAL: The jailbreak by SIMI activists and their subsequent death in an alleged encounter with the police at Bhopal on the night of Diwali this year, have again put Madhya Pradesh’s status as “island of peace” under the scanner.
The state has not witnessed a single terror attack but it is clear that it is being used by extremist organisations as a safe hideout for their sleeper cells. And it has become a major transit hub for FICN (Fake Indian Currency Notes) too.
In the last two years alone, around 40 incidents of alleged anti-national activities have been reported from the state. Last year, 15 such incidents were reported while in 2014 their number was 25.
Activists of anti-national organisations have been caught for operating fake currency rackets, gunrunning, trying to lure young men to join their ranks, for possession of incendiary literature and so on in the state.
This year, in January, an alleged terrorist fled from the Itarsi railway station, from the custody of the Tamil Nadu Police. The TN cops were taking him to Lucknow for a hearing by the Rapti Sagar Express. The man was a cancer patient on liquid diet and was not even able to walk. Clearly, he could not have escaped without outside help. And the fact that he seems to have vanished into thin air shows that the escape was well-planned and meticulously executed.
Counting from the year 2007, the number of such cases has already crossed the 100 mark. In the year 2007, only two cases where reported but the figure jumped to 14 in 2009, only to dip to 3 in 2010. In the year 2011, 7 cases were reported, which more than doubled to 16 in 2012. The next year witnessed 15 such incidents. The highest number of cases -25- was reported in the year 2014. The number of cases was 15 in 2015. Till February 16 this year, two cases have already been reported.
On the Republic Day in 2015, a man, identified as Zahoor Khan was arrested, along with fake currency notes worth Rs 5,60,000 from Habibganj railway station. A resident of Sehore district, Zahoor Khan had bought the fake notes from Malda in West Bengal. He was dealing in counterfeit currency for the past 7-8 years and was expected to have pumped duplicate currency worth Rs 10 lakh in the state the police said.
On February 6 in Old Pandhurna of Chhindwara District, the Maharashtra ATS along with the Madhya Pradesh Police, carried out raid at a house owned by Khusal Madankar in old Pandhurna in Chhindwara District and recovered huge amount of ammunition and explosives including 1,768 electric detonators, 612 sticks of Kelvex power 90 Class-2 explosive, 840 feet Detonating cord, one exploder and other related equipments.
Police registered a case against two persons, identified as Mukesh Sankhla and Rajmal Sankhla, both belonging to Bhilwada District in Rajasthan. The accused were booked under the Indian Explosive Substance Act-1908. ATS Nagpur unit interrogated the accused for any suspected link with anti-national elements, terror outfits or Naxal elements.
On April 15, five persons identified as Imran Khan Muhammad Sharif, Wasim Khan, Mohammad Rizwan, Anwar and Mazhar were arrested from Ratlam and were said to be the part of an IS-linked jihad cell.
Imran Khan Muhammad Sharif, the leader of the five accused is alleged to have been recruited online by an Indian jihadist he knew as “Yusuf” – a code, investigators said, for Karnataka-born Muhammad Shafi Armar, a fugitive IM operative now leading a group of Indians fighting with the IS.
On May 14, in Bhopal, the police arrested Waqar Khan, a 43-year-old man running a private security agency with wireless sets tuned to banned frequencies of Army and police, Police seized around 70 more wireless sets from him. State ATS, military intelligence and related agencies joined the investigations following its international ramifications.
In the year 2014, on February 3 in Ujjain district, a SIMI cadre, identified as Zuber was arrested by the ATS from Nagori Mohalla in Mahidpur area of Ujjain district. More than 200 detonators, gelatin rods and explosive powder were recovered from his possession. Two days later, the police again arrested a SIMI cadre, identified as Irfan by the ATS from near Ujjain. On April 27, the state ATS arrested a suspected SIMI activist, identified as Gulrez Mustafa from Bhopal railway station.
On September 12, the ATS arrested one person associated with SIMI from Jabalpur district by tracing incoming and outgoing calls on one of the mobile phones left by Khandwa jail-breaker fugitives before they escaped from their hideout in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnor District.
Since year 2007 to August 2016 Rs 51,42,265 FICN was seized by the various investigation agencies.
On April 29, 2015 at Satna railway station, a joint team of CBI’s Delhi and Jabalpur unit arrested two persons, identified as Bablu and Rajeev Gupta from Satna railway station and seized a superfine quality of FICN with a face value of INR 1,049,000 from their possession.
On January 26, 2015 in Bhopal, a man, identified as Zahoor Khan was arrested, along with FICN worth Rs 5,60,000 from Habibganj railway station. Sehore-resident Zahoor Khan had brought the fake currency from Malda in West Bengal. He had arrived by the Dakshin Express. He was dealing in counterfeit currency for the past 7-8 years and is expected to have pumped duplicate currency worth Rs 10 lakh so far On October 6 the same year, Satna Police busted a gang involved in making FICNs and seized 11,000 notes of INR 100 denomination after a raid at a fake currency printing unit in Satna district. Four people, identified as Sonu Pathak (20), Manoj Pandey (30), Prasenjit Mishra (27), and Ashish Sharma were arrested and equipment used for printing notes was also seized from the premises.
On October 9, in Chhindwara, police arrested three persons, identified as Babulal Sahu, and Parsuram Sahu of Harrai village and Anupam Majumdar of West Bengal with FICN of INR 568,000.
Police suspect it as a module of an international syndicate allegedly involved in pumping Pakistan-made superfine quality FICNs into remote tribal areas of the state.
Police have also come across more links of the syndicate. The then DIG Chhindwara range claimed that “Chhindwara now has the second highest circulation of FICNs because of tribal population. We have dispatched our team to West Bengal for further investigation.”
On August 31 2009 the state Police arrested two Nepali nationals, identified as Rajesh Gupta and Ateeq Ahmad, along with Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN). During interrogation, they revealed that Nepal’s former crown prince, Paras, son of King Gyanendra, and the son of a former Nepalese forest minister, Salim Mian Ansari, were the kingpins of the racket. Rajesh Gupta and Ateeq Ahmad also stated that Paras was working with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s external intelligence agency, and gangster Dawood Ibrahim, who is reportedly hiding in Karachi in Pakistan. Yunus Ansari is also a business partner of Paras.
On February 27 in the same year, two persons, identified as Sujeet Singh and Gausul Azim were arrested at Bhopal railway station for possessing FICN worth INR 2.70 lakh, the Crime Branch claimed. Both the accused are the residents of West Bengal. D Sreenivasa Varma, DIG of Police, Bhopal zone, said following a tip-off, two persons were detained from the railway station. When Police searched their bags and baggage, fake currency worth INR 2.70 lakh was recovered. “They were given money by one Mantu Sekh, a resident of West Bengal, and asked to hand over to one Zahoor Khan alias Pahalwan. Though, they were not aware that Zahoor has been arrested by the crime branch”
The ADG, CID Anil Kumar informed Free Press that in the state various organisations are trying to inject two type of counterfeit currencies. One of cross border and the other local made. The currency coming from cross border is as superfine as Indian currency as they may be using the same paper the ink and the printing. The perfection of the currency shows that, it could be monitored by the state agency to bring it perfection, the Indian government is also not able to put its claim at international platform, that the neighbouring country is behind the fake currency.
The declaration of the new currency and the demonetised of the Rs 500 and 1000 note will hamper the prevailing of the fake currency in the Indian economy. The new note is having various features like the paper, design, ink and the size. The printer of the FICN will have the loss of two to three years loss of their stock and to copy the current design and other arrangements it will take again three years.
For this period the Indian economy will remained safe from cross border FICN.
Year-wise breakup of terror-related incidents in MP
Year Number of Incidents
2007 2
2008 14
2009 9
2010 3
2011 7
2012 16
2013 15
2014 25
2015 15
2016 02
TOTAL 108
