Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 31: A Junior Engineer and a contractor, who had paid Rs 1.4 lakh commission to an Executive Engineer which included Rs 65,000 worth fake currency, have come under scanner for their links with hawala operatives as police felt that the currency might have flown through illegal means.
Investigations into the fake currency racket in which Nowabad police had yesterday arrested three persons including an Executive Engineer Manu Karwal of Roop Nagar, revealed that Junior Engineer Sharief-ud-Din and a contractor Lal Din, both residents of Kupwara had allegedly paid Rs 1.4 lakh worth commission to the Executive Engineer for the works obtained by them.
Of Rs 1.4 lakh commission paid to the Executive Engineer, Rs 65,000 contained fake currency while rest of the amount was genuine.
The Engineers and the contractor were caught with the fake currency.
Police said sustained interrogation of all three accused was on after they were taken on remand from the court. The JE and the contractor could be sent to the Joint Interrogation Centre (JIC) for sustained questioning to ascertain sources of the fake currency.
Sources here said that police teams were conducting searches at various places in Jammu, Srinagar and Kupwara in search of more accused and recovery of currency from their possession following reports that the fake currency had flown from Pakistan as a part of hawala money meant for militants and other anti-national elements.
“The fake currency might have landed into the hands of the Junior Engineer and the contractor through their channels in the Over Ground Workers (OGWs) of the militants, which they supplied to the Executive Engineer mixing it in the notes as a part of commission for construction works’’, sources said.
Sources said the case of fake currency could be converted into Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against the JE and the contractor if evidence was gathered against them the fake currency was part of hawala money and had flown from Pakistan.
Police said names of some more persons of Kupwara, where the Executive Engineer and the Junior Engineer had been posted, have figured in the fake currency racket. Police have conveyed these names to their counterparts in Kupwara for conducting searches and apprehending them.
Only few days back, police had arrested three persons in the border town of Poonch along with Rs 45,000 worth fake currency.
The fake currency, police said, might be flowing from across the border for destabilizing economy and fund separatists and militants. However, some miscreants might have made it a business by selling it for fewer amounts, they added.
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