Bail denied to actor held for circulating fake currency notes

A 32-year-old actor in Mumbai has been denied bail after being arrested for allegedly being part of a group involved in circulating fake currency notes. The actor, Sumit Sharma, claimed he had no knowledge of the counterfeit notes, but the court rejected his plea, citing evidence of his involvement. The police have recovered fake currency notes with a face value of ₹7 crore.

Mumbai: The sessions court on Thursday rejected the bail plea of a 32-year-old actor arrested on January 26, 2022, for allegedly being a part of a group involved in the circulation of fake Indian currency notes (FICN).

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The actor, Sumit Sharma, is a resident of Uttarakhand. The court rejected Sharma’s claim that he had no knowledge that the other accused, who were travelling with him in the same vehicle, were carrying FICN in their bags.

“In the present case, Sharma was found travelling along with the co-accused and counterfeit currency notes with a face value of ₹5 crore. The co-accused and his associates are from different states. The driver of the car, which was hired by the accused for their conveyance clearly stated that all the four accused were travelling in his car along with a bag of counterfeit currency notes,” the court said while rejecting his bail plea.

“They were apprehended at Dahisar Naka along with the bags. Not only this, but the other panchanamas and statements of witnesses show that this applicant, along with his other associates, stayed in a hotel room. Counterfeit currency notes with a face value of ₹2 crore were also seized from the hotel rooms of these accused. Hence, it cannot be said that he had no knowledge of counterfeit currency notes in the bags carried in the car was hired by the accused together,” the court added.

Acting on the information, the officials kept a watch and stopped a suspected vehicle. The passengers travelling in the car were identified as Wasim Salmani, Manoj Sharma, Sumit Sharma and Vinod Vijayan. The police recovered 250 bundles of FICN of ₹2,000 denomination each. In each bundle, there were 100 notes of ₹2,000 denomination. The police said their probe revealed that the notes were being printed in Uttar Pradesh, and they have recovered fake currency notes of the face value of ₹7 crore.