Six convicted for possessing, selling fake stamps, currency

"They had settled a parallel machinery for manufacture and sale of counterfeit postal stamps and counterfeit currency notes thereby jeopardising the whole economy of the country.

"Our country as a whole is finding it very difficult to curb the menace of counterfeit currency notes and counterfeit postal stamps which have come into the market and are being exchanged by unwary members of the public, almost daily," Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Virender Bhat said.

Out of six convicts, Virender Rai and his accomplice Hari Narain were sentenced to ten years in jail and imposed fines of Rs 2.25 lakh and Rs 1.5 lakh respectively for conspiring to manufacture and sell fake stamps and currency notes.

While software professional Yagya Dutt Sharma, Satpal and sacked postal department employee Rohtash Kumar were sentenced to seven years jail term for helping the main accused, they were also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 each.

The court, however, let off sixth accused Raj Kumar after awarding him a jail term equal to the imprisonment already undergone by him during the trial, saying he was a first-time offender and can "mend" his ways by joining the mainstream of society. Raj Kumar was also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000.

The prosecution case dated back to March 10, 2007, when the six were arrested by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police from Palam village. (More)