4 years on, probe turns cold in most fake currency network cases in MP

Bhopal: It's not just coloured printouts, state capital had been a hotspot for circulation of finest quality of fake currency involving several separate modules over four years.
In most cases, investigations had hit a dead end at Raxaul (Indo-Nepal border in Bihar) and Malda (Indo-Bangladesh border).
Case of wrestler-turned cop, Zahoor Khan who was arrested by Bhopal's crime branch police on January 27, 2015 met a similar fate.Officials could not trace further linkages.
Additional superintendent of police Shailendra Singh Chouhan said Khan's case is pending in court. Regarding his linkages, the case has been forwarded to international agencies for further investigation.
Senior bank officers and cashiers of nationalised banks had a tough time to conclude that fake Indian currency notes (FICNs) seized from Zahoor Khan were fake as they matched all security features, including watermark, thread, latent image, intaglio, identification mark, fluorescence and optically variable ink.
The only deviation was a spelling error left deliberately, said investigators. Khan, who worked with special armed forces in 1981 as a constable, was nabbed by police on basis of a specific intelligence input.
When FICNs with face value of Rs 5.60 lakh (in Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations) were confiscated from a false bottom of his bag, investigators were amazed by its flawless quality.
After failing to distinguish between fake and original, a sample was sent to RBI officials. After close examination, RBI reported that currencies seized from Khan were fake, but of best quality they ever came across, said an official.
RBI had pointed out the only flaw in Khan's currencies was a mistake in the micro-letter 'Mahatma' (in Hindi) printed below Mahatma Gandhi's picture. In the fake notes, it's 'Maharma' in Hindi instead of 'Mahatma'. And the mistake, officials claim, was deliberately left by its Pakistani manufactures. These currencies were brought from Malda and Murshidabad, which share border with Bangladesh and have emerged as main supply route.
Khan told interrogators he had bought notes on 50:50 ratio, which means one fake of Rs 500 for Rs 250 in genuine currency. He said he had been circulating counterfeits since 2005 and had visited Malda five times.
National Investigating Agency (NIA) were also tipped-off as the key supplier is still on the run, but to no avail.
Noteworthy that Bhopal had been on hit list of NIA in connection with fake currencies for last four years. In 2014 NIA had mentioned Bhopal, specifically, in a written submission before the Supreme Court claiming that bail should not be granted to persons engaged in circulating high value fake Indian currency notes printed in Pakistan as it amounted to an act of terror intended to destabilize India's economy.
NIA had said high quality fake Indian currency notes (FICN), which were difficult to detect by the naked eye, were seized throughout the country - three places in Bhopal, Kerala, Kolkata, two places in Bihar and also from Punjab - and claimed that it was an attempt to destabilize the country's economy and create doubt in the minds of citizens about the genuineness of legal tender.