India, Jan. 16 -- A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Tuesday refused to discharge Nasir Usmangani Chaudhary from a case involving alleged circulation of high-quality counterfeit Rs.2,000 denomination notes on the instructions of a Pakistan-based handler identified by the agency as Javed Patel alias Javed Chikna, a designated terrorist and close associate of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar.

Special judge Chakor Baviskar rejected Chaudhary's plea for discharge, observing that at the pre-trial stage, the court was only required to see whether the material on record raises a prima facie case and "grave suspicion" against the accused, not to conduct a meticulous evaluation of evidence.

The case stems from a Novemb...