DIMAPUR, JUNE 4 (MExN): One has heard of police pursuing one case, stumbling upon another totally different in nature. The Special Branch of Dimapur police came across something just similar.
On the trail of a fake currency racket, Special Branch investigators unearthed a case of sodomy and arrested one person in this connection. The arrest occurred on Monday, June 4. The accused was identified as one Fakharuddin Mazumdar (48 years), a flourishing hardware store owner based in 2 ½ Mile, Dimapur.
According to DySP (Special Branch) Israel G Xuivi, the accused, suspected of a possible involvement in the fake currency business, was put under surveillance. In the ensuing investigation, it emerged that the accused had sodomised five men on different occasions in the recent past. The revelation came about when one of his victims spilled the beans on him and four others followed suit. The victim was a salesman working at his store. Not all five were his employees however.
Two were said to be his tenants staying in rooms sublet by the accused at the 2 ½ Mile junction where his store is located. Fearing humiliation and retaliation, the five victims kept mum until one of them opened up on June 4.
Based on the charges of the victims, the accused was arrested and interrogated. During the interrogation, it further emerged that about a month back, the accused had forcibly snatched one motor-cycle belonging to a non-Naga businessman based in Purana Bazaar. The owner also did not lodge any complaints fearing lash-back as the accused is said to be well connected. The accused had also threatened the owner’s brother with dire consequences if they opened their mouth forcing him to leave Nagaland.
That portion of the investigation aside, Xuivi said that investigation into Mazumdar’s reported involvement in the fake currency business will continue. In his initial statement to interrogators, the accused had told interrogators that he had once exchanged Rs. 10000 worth of counterfeit currencies. How he got hold of the currencies and the eventual disposal is yet to be unearthed. A second man (a non-Naga) was also detained for questioning after it emerged that the accused had once given Rs. 12,000 in fake currency to the man.
The fake currency business is believed to well-entrenched in Nagaland even involving influential people.
