NEW DELHI: In the first case where Pakistan government’s involvement in printing of fake Indian currency notes (FICN) has been nailed by forensic evidence, an NIA special court in Mumbai has sentenced to life imprisonment all six accused held in a fake currency racket in Maharashtra in 2009. It was the first FICN case to be registered under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) making such printing and distribution a terror activity.NIA had produced evidence through RBI experts and forensic tests by Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL) to show that FICN features, paper quality and printing quality matched that of Pakistani currency and thus could only have been printed by Pakistan government press.On the basis of reports submitted by SPMCIL and RBI, the court examined the chairman of the committee of experts in detail, sources said. The committee had said, “During examination of the samples of FICN as well as the legal tender of neighbouring country, most of the pivotal parameters of the paper like gram per square metre (GSM) of the paper, wax pick quotient, poly vinyl alcohol, PH value etc were found matching with the legal tender of that country. GSM is an important indicator about the density of paper. Various currency papers have different GSMs. The surface sizing is almost similar.“The similarity in the furnish used (100% rag content), PH of the paper and surface sizing (presence of poly vinyl alcohol) clearly indicates that similar manufacturing process has been adopted in case of FICN and legal tender of that country. The aforesaid facts clubbed with presence of see through registration features, quality of the printing of the FICN, presence of security thread which appears to be inserted at the time of manufacturing of the paper, use of numbering box in printing the numbering panel of the FICN etc points towards the neighbouring country as a source of FICN."This is the first time Pakistan’s hand in FICN printing has been nailed by forensic evidence. “Until now, such opinions were merely based on intelligence reports," said an NIA officer.Sources in the security establishment said the development would go a long way in putting Pakistan on the defensive through global forums such as Financial Action Task Force (FATF) — an inter-governmental body developing and promoting policies to combat money laundering and terror financing — and build international pressure on the neighbouring country to stop the menace.The six accused -- Ravi Dhiren Ghosh, Nuruddin Islam, Mohd Samad, Mohd Aijul Shaikh, Mohd Asruddin Shaikh and Azraul Tamez Shaikh -- were arrested by Maharashtra ATS in 2009 with Rs 3.45 lakh in FICN in Mumbai. The investigation was later transferred to NIA which slapped sections of UAPA dealing with terror activity and terror funding apart from IPC sections dealing with FICN.During the investigation by NIA, it was revealed that FICN of denomination of Rs 1000 of 2AQ series seized in this case were also recovered at the Kochi currency chest of the RBI. To cast the investigation net wide, NIA then took samples of FICN seizures made across the nation. Samples were taken from seizures in Chandigarh, Chitradurga (Karnataka), Kashmir, Thane (Maharashtra), Badwani (Madhya Pradesh), Vasco (Goa) and Bhopal.These samples were sent for RBI’s opinion which said many covert features of genuine Indian currency were successfully imitated, and could have been achieved only through highly sophisticated machinery available with sovereign governments. Similar opinion was given by experts of Bank Note Press (BNP), Mysore.To get more clarity, samples were sent to SPMCIL which prints currency and stamps in the country to match them with currencies of other countries to find out where they were coming from. The SPMCIL found the currencies matching those printed in Pakistan.Comparing FICN with Pakistani currency, the SPMCIL report said, “The PH value of the paper used in legal tender of that country and one used in FICN samples is same i.e. 5-5.5. The gram per square metre (GSM) of the paper used in FICN samples and that in legal tender of that country was found to be similar. The caliper value measured in both the papers (FICN and legal tender) has similar range."An earlier report on the same notes by SPMICL had said, “After thoroughly examining the FICN it can be concluded that the notes have been printed on highly sophisticated machines which a common man cannot acquire since such machines involve huge capital investment. The pulp found to be 100% rag in the FICN which is normally used in making currency papers. The perfection of window and watermarks formation indicates the manufacture of FICN paper on regular currency making machines which can only be owned by a country/state."