Junmoni Rabha’s death opens Pandora’s Box in Lakhimpur’s fake gold-counterfeit trade

North Lakhimpur, May 18: The death of flamboyant police officer SI Junmoni Rabha in a mysterious car accident has, among other things, drawn a link with the infamous illicit trade of fake gold and counterfeiting currencies of Bangalmora in Lakhimpur district.

In a fast developing scenario, it has been now established that the deceased police officer, posted in Nagaon district, came to Bangalmora on May 6 to nab a fake gold trader Asgar Ali after receiving tip-off from a local source.

The telephonic conversation between Hasina Begum, the local informer of SI Junmoni Rabha, in Bangalmora and Lakhimpur Adl SP Runa Neog, now transferred, has indicated a long standing public allegation of police-criminal nexus of the illicit trade of Lakhimpur’s Bangalmora.

In the recorded telephonic conversation, now going viral in social media, Adl SP Runa Neog is heard threatening Hasina Begum to put behind bars for her role against the fake gold-counterfeiting traders of Bangalmora.

Since the accident, Hasina Begum has been consistently saying before the media that Junmoni Rabha had warned her for a threat for her life and asked her to come to Nagaon for protection. She also alleged that police officers from Nowboicha, Bangalmora outposts and Narayanpur Police Station are also collaborating with the fake gold traders.

The public has been alleging the police collaboration in the fake gold-counterfeiting trade of Bangalmora in the last several years. This illicit trade is going on within a small area of only a few square kilometres consisting of villages like Pandhowa, Borsola, Mohghuli, Tinithegiya, Sonapur, Jubanagar, etc., under Bangalmora, Nowboicha, Silanibari and Dolahat Police Outposts and Laluk and Bihpuria Police Stations.

The inability of police to completely uproot the illicit trade has also earned a bad name for the district. Under the alleged protection of police, the counterfeiters invite customers to sell fake gold and fake notes.

The customers are demonstrated note printing machines with RBI insignia which are actually very ordinary handmade toy boxes, where some original notes are kept inside. The demonstration convinces the customers and they pay huge amounts of cash to double them with fakes.

The sellers then take the cash and vanish from the spot, leaving the buyers stranded in an unknown locality. The duped customers cannot even go to police since they know it is an illegal activity, or on some occasions, even if they do so, they are allegedly framed by police. This formula has been going on repeatedly in Bangalmora area for a long time.

For fake gold trade the fraudster’s modus operandi is to lure potential buyers through phone calls by middlemen and to bring them to thugs to hand over the gold- mostly in form of boat or a statue of crucifix—in exchange of money worth several lakhs of rupees. When a buyer arrives, they used to take the money and give gold-coated statues or boats or simply scare them away without any gold as said in the deal.

In the last one and half decade names like Lambu Sayed, Abdul Razzak, Nabiul, Zakir are familiar in the greater Bangalmora area under several police outposts of running these illicit activities. The apparent cat-and-mouse game of police and counterfeiters over the years has seen arrival of police on the spot and arrests of both the sellers and buyers. The sellers are soon released on bail and the customers had to incur a huge monetary loss.

Police made several arrests from 2015 onwards that includes Ainuddin (2015), Yasin Ali and Afjaur Rahman (2016), Najibur Rahman (23), Ashraf Islam (21) of No. 2 Sonapur, Akbar Ali and Abdul Hannan of No.1 Sonapur village, Habibur Rahman of Balitika-Konwarpur, Mainuddin, Hasan Ali (25), Khurjat Ali (23), Mujibur Rahman of No. 2 Sonapur village, Rafiq Ahmed (37) , Jeherul Islam (35), Saiful Islam (29), Mizanur Rahman alias Mizu (2018), Shamsul Haq, Rajibul Ali, Motibur Rahman and Sirajul Islam of No. 2 Sonapur, Mijarul Islam (26), No. 1 Ahmedpur, Jeherul Hoque Talukdar alias Bhaiti,No.1 Daulatpur, Abdul Shaheed (32), from Paschim Singibari, Rupohi, Nagaon, Yusuf Ali, of Borsola No. Kurban Ali (27), of No. 2 Islampur (2019), Md. Riyajul Islam (22), Uttar Mohghuli and Md Abdul Sattar (46) of Sonapur, Md Soriful islam (30) of No.1 Ahmedpur, Md Sadikul Ali (21) and Sajida Begum(37) of Meneha village (2020). None of them are now behind the bars.

Notably on June 28, 2016, police dug the floor of the house of one Qassem Ali of Fatehpur village of Bangalmora in connection to the Rs 300 crores treasure of ULFA reportedly hidden in a temple in Rani near Guwahati. Though the police found nothing in that operation, the assets of Qassem Ali, a farmer amazed everyone which included 15 trucks, an SUV and several other cars with a sprawling house. According to locals, one fourth of youth in the greater Bangalmora area is estimated to be involved in this illicit trade as peddlers.

The biggest question that remains unanswered in the fake gold-counterfeiting trade of Lakhimpur’s Bangalmora has been the supply of materials used in making the fake gold or printing currencies. The infrastructure required to print counterfeit notes is unlikely in Bangalmora and hence raises question of a possible route of supply across international borders.

Adl SP Runa Neog, who has been posted in Lakhimpur since 2017, is alleged to be involved in the fake gold-counterfeit trade of Bangalmora. Her intimidation to Hasina Begum, Junmoni Rabha’s informer and protection by the Nowboicha police to Asgar Ali now raises lots of questions to the role of the law enforcers to this infamous crime. Ali was arrested by the deceased SI Junmoni Rabha on May 6 in Bangalmora. SI Rabha’s mysterious death and the telephonic conversation between Adl SP Neog with Hasina Begum is surely going to open a Pandora’s Box to this fake gold-counterfeit story.