Thaindian News

Lucknow, Aug 31 (IANS) The arrest of a Nepali youth from Uttar Pradesh’s border town of Rupadiha with fake Indian currency notes has exposed how Nepal was being used as a conduit for counterfeit Indian notes printed in Pakistan, police said Monday.
Sources in the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) claimed that the confessions made by arrested people have even given leads to the nexus of the fake currency operators with Nepal’s erstwhile king Gyanendra’s family.

The arrest Sunday of Vicky Manihar in Rupadiha, over 150 km from here, followed a similar crackdown by the Madhya Pradesh ATS in Bhopal from where two young men were nabbed earlier last week.

“Leads provided by them brought the Madhya Pradesh sleuths to Uttar Pradesh, where the local ATS joined them to get hold of yet another man with close connections with the ousted Nepal royal family,” a top police officer told IANS here.

Atiq alias Rana and Rajesh Gupta were picked up in Bhopal with fake Indian currency of the order of Rs.111,000, two sophisticated mobile phones, two ATM cards and two diaries.

Manihar, who was held in Rupadiha, is the son of Majid Manihar, a close lieutenant of slain Nepali mafia don turned MP Mirza Dilshad Beg.

“Even though Vicky Manihar was found in possession of just Rs.5,000, he was suspected to be among the kingpins of the racket in fake Indian currency believed to be manufactured in Pakistan and routed into India via Kathmandu,” the Uttar Pradesh police officer said.

According to him, “the diaries recovered from the arrested persons also contain vital information establishing their connection with some influential persons in Nepal including some family members of king Gyanendra”.

Police believe that fake Indian currency printed in Pakistan was transported to Kathmandu by air and then spread across India through the highly porous 600-km long border along Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.