Nashik jailer grants furlough to two terror convicts, may face probe

The home department has proposed a departmental inquiry against the superintendent and acting DIG of Nashik jail, J S Naik, for unlawfully allowing furlough to two convicts serving term under terrorism-related charges. Both the convicts escaped during the furlough period.

As per law, a furlough is not allowed to convicts serving term for acts related to terrorism.

What makes the case worse is that the second convict, Ravi Dhiren Ghosh, was released on furlough for eight months, when the first convict to be released, Nuruddin Islam, was already on the run.

While Nuruddin, who was given furlough in June 2014, is still at large, Dhiren, who was let out on furlough in February this year, surrendered in August, within a few days of the accused jailer's role coming under the scanner.

Sources said the file proposing an inquiry against Naik has been sent to the chief minister's office for sanction as Naik is a grade one officer. Once clearance is granted, the department will appoint an inquiry officer to unearth the truth. Till then, he has been transferred to a non-executive post. Sources claim that it is not yet clear if Naik did it out of ignorance or under influence.

The matter came to the notice of the home department only when the National Investigation Agency (NIA), through a letter in June, raised an alarm. The department then called for a report from the Nashik prison. In the last week of August, it recommended an inquiry against Naik and a clerk, who were prime facie found responsible.

Islam and Dhiren, along with four others, were convicted by a special NIA court in January 2014 under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) that defines printing and distribution of fake currency as a terror activity.

This was the first case where Pakistan's involvement in printing fake Indian currency notes (FICNs) was nailed by forensic evidence. It is also the first FICN case to be registered under UAPA.

To nab these convicts, NIA had produced evidence through RBI experts and forensic tests by the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL). The tests revealed that the FICN features, paper and printing quality exactly matched Pakistan's currency and could only have been printed at a Pakistan government press.

Ghosh, Islam and the other four convicts – Mohd Samad, Mohd Aijul Shaikh, Mohd Asruddin Shaikh and Azraul Tamez Shaikh – were first arrested by the Maharashtra ATS in 2009, with FICNs worth Rs 3.45 lakh in Mumbai.

The investigation was later transferred to NIA, which slapped Sections of UAPA dealing with terror activity and funding, apart from IPC Sections dealing with FICN. During the NIA investigation, it was revealed that FICNs of Rs 1,000 denomination of 2AQ series were seized. FICNs of the same series were also recovered from the Kochi currency chest of the RBI. The similar nature and series of notes found at two different places indicated that there was a wide network circulating FICNs and that the source of both these FICNs was the same.