New Delhi, Dec 10: With the Indian agencies cracking down heavily on the narcotics trade, Intelligence Bureau officials have warned about an uptick in the smuggling of fake currency notes. In the past two weeks, several operations have been carried out in various parts of the country in which fake currency rackets have been busted.

The fake currency mafia is controlled by the Dawood Ibrahim syndicate, which is based in Pakistan. While the syndicate is trying to find newer routes and partners to further the narcotics trade, it is also stepping up operations relating to fake Indian currency. The ISI needs funds to resurrect its terror groups, which were largely beaten down during Operation Sindoor.

The fake currency racket had taken a slight backseat for some years, but now there are full-fledged plans to resume operations on a very large scale. Malda in West Bengal remains the main hub for this racket in India. Now with an unfriendly regime in place in Bangladesh, the ISI sees an opportunity to scale up operations.

All the fake currency that is being printed in Pakistan is first routed into Bangladesh. The ISI finds no problem in routing fake notes into Bangladesh, as Islamabad and Dhaka have close ties today. The sea route has been opened up, and the visa process is much simpler for Pakistanis, and this is being taken advantage of by the ISI.

From Bangladesh, the operatives push the fake currency into Malda, following which it is circulated across the country. Officials report that apart from West Bengal, mini modules have been set up in various parts of the country. The notes are transported either from Malda or Murshidabad in West Bengal to the rest of the country.

An official said there has been an increase in such cases, as the ISI and D-Syndicate are pushing it massively. There is a desperate need for funds as the ISI is not only trying to revive terror groups in Pakistan, but is also creating another front in Bangladesh. It wants to engage India on both fronts, and hence the simultaneous push is being made, the official explained.

These gangs operating the racket in India have been coming up with various ways to push fake notes into the market. In Gujarat, a gang that was running a money-doubling scam was busted. It was found that victims were lured into the scheme, and they were given fake Indian currency. This gang was operating mainly in Gujarat and Maharashtra, the probe has revealed.

While the Bangladesh-West Bengal route is the primary one for this racket, there is also a fresh push to smuggle these notes through the UAE into Kerala. Over the years, Kasargod in Kerala has become a major hub for smuggling fake currency notes.

M.B. Moosa, Abdul Rahman, K.M. Hamza, Kallatra Abdul Ha Khader Haji, Irabhim Soopi, K.S. Abdullah, and Kadavath Atta are the ones who have been running this racket. The notes from Pakistan would reach these persons through the UAE route.

Officials say that the Kerala route is one of the hardest to control. There is a huge rush at the airports owing to the number of people visiting the Gulf nations. The ISI has taken advantage of the stress on the security mechanism at these airports in Kerala. Most of the time, these persons get away because the customs formations are understaffed. This makes checking everyone difficult.

Further, the detection has also become very difficult owing to the quality of the notes that are being printed. An Intelligence Bureau official said that the notes are printed in government printing presses in Lahore, Karachi, Quetta, Multan, and Peshawar. These are the same places where the official Pakistani Rupee is also printed. Hence, the quality of the Indian notes being printed in Pakistan is of very superior quality, and this is making detection a challenge, the officer explained.

The gravity of the problem in India, courtesy this fresh push by Dawood and the ISI, can be seen in a report published by the US State Department. “India faces an increasing inflow of high-quality counterfeit currency, which is produced primarily in Pakistan but smuggled to India through multiple international routes. Criminal networks exchange counterfeit currency for genuine notes, which not only facilitates money laundering but also represents a threat to the Indian economy,” the report says.

Mumbai: An FIR has been filed against 367 people in connection with the illegal obtaining of birth certificates, officials said.

The Mulund Police Station in Mumbai filed an FIR against 367 people, who have been accused of illegally obtaining birth certificates. This comes after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kirit Somaiya filed a complaint while naming four individuals and several others as suspects.

The FIR invokes Sections 336(3), 340(2), 318(4), 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with Section 23 of the Birth Registration Act.

The FIR has been registered against those allegedly involved in obtaining certificates through fraudulent means, with many accused of being Bangladeshi immigrants.

Somiaya has been highlighting the issue of Bangladeshi nationals allegedly forging documents to obtain birth certificates. He earlier praised Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis after multiple arrests carried out by the police of Bangladeshi nationals involved in such activities.

In December, the BJP leader asserted that the whole racket would be busted in the coming days.

“He (Fadnavis) has instructed the whole Maharashtra Police ATS and district administrations to take strict action against the Rohingya Muslims from Bangladesh who have settled here illegally. I feel that this whole racket will be busted in the coming days,” Somaiya said.

Fadnavis had said that the state has started taking action on illegal Bangladeshi citizens living in Mumbai and Maharashtra, and said that they will soon be deported.

In November, Somaiya had shared that Jalgaon police arrested 43 Bangladeshi Muslim infiltrators for allegedly forging court orders to obtain birth certificates. The case, registered as 129/2025, involves the theft of documents and court seals from the Executive Magistrate’s office.

Mumbai: The Malad police arrested a 54-year-old autorickshaw driver under the POCSO Act (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) and on charges of attempt to murder. He allegedly molested a 17-year-old college student in his autorickshaw. When she began to shout for help, he pushed her out of the moving vehicle. The incident occurred on December 8. The accused has been identified as Keshav Yadav, a resident of Kandivali West.

According to the Malad police, the victim is a student of a well-known college in Malad West. After college, around 4.30 pm, she was looking for an auto rickshaw on S.V. Road. She stopped an auto and asked the driver to take her to Surana Hospital, Orlem, Malad West. She initially sat on the right side of the autorickshaw. The driver told her that road work was underway and requested her to sit in the middle seat since she was alone.

However, he did not take the route she had instructed. Instead, he drove through a different route. He looked at her through the rear-view mirror and made obscene gestures several times. She became frightened and asked him to stop the autorickshaw. Instead, he increased the speed. Terrified, she started shouting, but he threatened her. After a brief silence, she shouted again. This time, he pushed her out of the autorickshaw, allegedly intending to kill her as other vehicles were passing on the busy road.

The girl went home and, along with her mother and sister, approached the Malad police station to file a complaint. The police registered a case under Sections 79 (outraging a woman’s modesty) and 109 (attempt to murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with Section 12 (sexual harassment of a child) of the POCSO Act, on Monday.

The Malad police immediately began the investigation. Assistant Police Inspector Raiwade and Police Sub-Inspector Tushar Sukhdeve from the detection team, visited the spot and worked on detecting the case. The police reviewed around 30 CCTV camera footage from the vicinity and identified the autorickshaw’s number.

They traced the auto’s last location to Kandivali West. Within a few hours, the police found the autorickshaw at Mathuradas Road, Kandivali West. The accused, Keshav Yadav, was asleep inside the vehicle. He was arrested, and the court remanded him to police custody until December 11.

The police officer stated that the accused resides in his auto-rickshaw itself. While the vehicle is registered under another individual’s name, the accused is its actual owner. No prior cases have been filed against him.

The operation was carried out under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner of Police Sandeep Jadhav and Senior Police Inspector Dushyant Chavan of Malad police station.