The Madras High Court on Tuesday transferred the investigation into a fake foreign currency case to the Interpol Wing of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after finding that the Coimbatore city police had not been able to even confirm the genuineness or otherwise of the currency notes since March 1, 2021.
Justice G. Jayachandran criticised the State police heavily for not having made any headway in the case for more than two years since Nigerian national O. Nathan Ikechukwu was arrested for attempting to exchange fake US dollars at a private foreign currency exchange agency in Kattur police station limits.
The Assistant Manager of the agency had lodged the complaint with the police on March 1, 2021 and also handed over the suspect after accusing him of attempting to escape when he was questioned about being in possession of fake dollars. The police registered a FIR and he was remanded to judicial custody.
After a Judicial Magistrate in Coimbatore granted bail to the Nigerian national on June 8, 2021, the Home Department issued a Government Order, under the Foreigners Act, on September 24, 2021 to lodge him in a refugees camp in Tiruchi and accordingly he was shifted to the camp on October 28, 2021.
In the meantime, the police attempted to verify whether the US dollars recovered from the suspect were counterfeit or not by sending them to the regional office of Reserve Bank of India in Chennai but received a reply stating that it could not be verified.
In January 2022, the police learnt that the visa affixed on the suspect’s passport was not issued by the Indian Embassy in Nigeria. However, a forensic analysis report received in February 2022 was unable to verify whether the currencies were counterfeit and a letter sent to the US Consulate in New Delhi in March 2022 did not evoke a reply.
“It is a very pathetic case which clearly exposes the inefficiency of the State police in effectively dealing with a foreigner who attempted to circulate fake foreign currency in India,” the judge said. He lamented that there was no progress even after the High Court in 2022 ordered completion of the investigation within two months.
Stating the delay had forced the suspect to approach the High Court for the second time with the present petition, the judge ordered transfer of investigation to the Interpol Wing of CBI and directed the latter to complete the probe within three months since “the petitioner is at present merrily enjoying the hospitality of the State in the special camp.”
