ANIRUDDHA BOSE,J. - (1.) The petitioner has been arrested on 3rd March 2014 in connection with alleged offences relating to use and possession of high quality fake Indian currency notes (FICN) from a location on National Highway No. 34 known as "Township Mor " in the district of Malda. His arrest has been made in course of investigation in S.T.F. P.S. Case No. 02 dated 25th February 2014. This case was started after detention of a co-accused from a shop in Burtolla Street, Kolkata, at the time he was alleged to have been using FICN while transacting business in the said shop. Altogether, 110 pieces of F.I.C.N. of denomination of Rs.1,000/- each is alleged to have been recovered from the said accused. Learned Public Prosecutor submitted that the said accused, Md. Ismail had revealed the names of the petitioner, as also certain other persons as the source of those FICNs. The petitioner was named in the array of accused in the F.I.R. lodged in connection with that case, i.e. 25th February 2014. The petitioner was arrested in course of investigation in that case. As per seizure list appearing at Page 43 of the Case Diary, sixty pieces of FICN having denomination of Rs.1,000/-, which at the time of making the seizure appeared to be of high quality, were recovered from him. We find from the examination report of Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran (P) Ltd. appearing at page 56 of the Case Diary, these notes were sent for examination on 14th March 2014, and the examining agency found these notes to be High quality counterfeit Indian Currency Notes, satisfying the parameters specified in the Schedule to the 1967 Act. We must point out in this regard that pagination in the Case Diary has been done using a pencil, but we are referring to such pagination only in this order.
(2.) Charge-sheet had been submitted against the petitioner under Section 120B/489B/489C IPC on 21st May 2014. A supplementary Charge-sheet was submitted on 4th August 2014, including the Sections 16/17/18 of the 1967 Act. It is submitted on behalf of the investigating agency that during the interim period, the report of the examining body had been obtained which supported the investigating agency 's suspicion that the counterfeit notes were of high quality, permission was obtained by the Investigating Officer, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, Special Branch for applying Sections 16/17/18 of The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, from the Superior Authority. Thereafter, on 9th/ 11/07/2014, sanction of the State Government was obtained in terms of Section 45(1) (ii) of the 1967 Act for prosecuting the petitioner and five other accused persons for allegedly committing offences punishable under Sections 16, 17 and 18 of the 1967 Act. Our attention in this regard has been drawn to page 100 of the Case Diary.
(3.) Mr. Basu, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioner has primarily argued against implicating of the petitioner under the 1967 Act on diverse procedural flaws. So far as provisions of the Indian Penal Code, with which the petitioner has been charged, Mr. Basu 's submission is that at the worst, the allegation against the petitioner is possession of FICNs, which is bailable offence, and there is no material that the petitioner was using or trafficking in counterfeit currency notes.;