Abdul Karim Telgi

The scam, executed by Abdul Karim Telgi, is widely believed to be part of a conspiracy by ISI to weaken our finances, and the involvement of trans-national mafias is suspected.
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And yet, they are reluctant to expel him from legislature despite clinching evidence on tape of his demanding and receiving bribes from Telgi to bless and protect the fake stamp distribution while he was a Minister!

The NCP leader has been in the dock since Telgi said during narco-analysis and brain finger-mapping tests that he had paid large sums of money to "Bhujbal".The investigation team is trying to establish if Telgi meant Chhagan or his nephew Sameer, thought to have been the link between the politician and the mastermind.

Bhujbal, who was also the home minister when the Telgi kickback rumours began doing the rounds, said the persistent questions were meant to sully his reputation.He said the insinuations were part of a well-planned design to hit him politically.

"What will Telgi pay me?"asked Bhujbal."What will he pay me when it was I who destroyed his network and exposed the scam?Maine toh uska khana bandh kar diya tha (I had cut off his lifeline)."The NCP leader said it was the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance, which was in power when the scam came to light, that had shielded Telgi.

Bhujbal, perhaps the first home minister who is to be quizzed on his suspected underworld links, was to be questioned on Thursday, but put off the interrogation till March 2.The NCP leader has said he might call for another postponement "after consultation with the (investigating) team" since Tuesday happens to be Muharram.

His nephew was questioned by the team early this morning for the third time.Sameer was quizzed for three hours, amid reports that he will be called in for questioning again.

Known in political circles as Bhujbal's right-hand man, Sameer has been accused in the past of having "engineered" police transfers and postings that helped the scam to flourish and of helping Telgi get in touch with politicians.He is alleged to have got some "difficult and unwanted" police officers investigating the Telgi case transferred using his police and secretariat connections.

Sameer is also in the eye of a storm for his "closeness" to Jalgaon-based oil baron Antim Totla, who was allegedly on Telgi's payroll.

After being questioned at the investigating team's Worli office, Sameer said he was "fully cooperating" with police and had answered all the questions put to him.He would not say what he had been asked.

There have been allegations that Telgi would pass on his instructions to transfer "difficult" police officers to Totla, who would then get his brother-in-law Prakash Jhakede to relay the request to Bhujbal's home ministry.

Gote was arrested for his links with scam mastermind Abdul Karim Telgi.
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The decision to summon the politicians was taken after confessions made by Telgi when a truth serum was administered and brain mapping tests conducted on him.

No date has yet been fixed to summon the two top politicians.

The results of the tests were made public at a special court in Pune where cases pertaining to the fake stamp paper racket are being heard.

According to SIT investigators, Telgi admitted to having paid off Bhujbal though it is not clear whether it was the former deputy chief minister or his nephew Sameer who took the money.

Telgi told investigators that Deshmukh had helped him obtain a stamp vendor's licence during his stint as revenue minister in 1994.Telgi visited Deshmukh to pursue his application.He was accompanied by Samajwadi Janata Party legislator Gote.

Deshmukh admitted to recommending Telgi's name for a stamp vendor's licence but denied that he benefited financially.As minister he helped several unemployed people who came with letters from politicians, he said.

The fake stamp papers case gained momentum only after the high court ordered the Maharashtra government to appoint a Special Investigation Team to unearth evidence against prime accused Abdul Karim Telgi.
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Stamp Scam: Telgi seems to be getting scared now after Pawar's and Bhujbal's names came out.
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Karnataka police have already injected Telgi with AIDS virus.I guess now he is scared of what will happen to his family members.He is guilty but there are big fish out there.

I did not meet Pawar: Telgihttp://us.rediff.com/news/2006/sep/10stamp.htm
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Telgi confesses on tape

Just who were the senior politicians, industrialist and policemen that helped master scamster Abdul Karim Telgi pull off the Rs 30,000 crore fake stamp paper scam?

TIMES NOW has accessed the copy of a tape that features Abdul Karim Telgi naming top politicians Union Agricultural minister Sharad Pawar, former Maharashtra Chief Minister and incumbent PWD Maharashtra State Minister Chhagan Bhujbal in the scam.The explosive disclosure was made during the course of a narco-analysis test on Telgi.Telgi made the revelations when he was in a semi-conscious state, after being injected with a truth serum.

The narco analysis test

On December 22, 2003, doctors at the government-run Victoria Hospital in Bangalore injected Telgi with a cocktail containing three grams of sodium pentathol and 3,000 ml of distilled water and dextrose.Popularly known as "truth serum", it was intravenously administered to Telgi over a period of three hours.The rate of administration was so controlled that the patient was slowly driven into a hypnotic trance.

As the drugs took effect and the questioning began, Telgi named prominent people with whom he had had monetary transactions; explained his modus operandi, revealed places where he operated, his business associates, how he started his racket, the number of bank accounts he had, and what he owned.
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Everybody in Maharashtra knows... Lala (Telgi) is stuck to his mind.
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Telgi also names former Karnataka Chief Minister Roshan Baig.
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"Roshan Baig is a friend, no doubt," Telgi says in the tape.
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Telgi also confesses to having paid Rs 2,000 cr to Bangalore police."I have my own system to talk to the police officers personally...I have talked to many," he says to interrogators.

When asked if there is threat to his life from the Karnataka police, he replies in the affirmative.
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For instance, Telgi despite being under the influence of the ‘serum' appears to dodge direct questions and even refuses to answer some.

"Politicians are the backbone of this business," he says, but adds "I would prefer not to take names... Politicians are bad animals, they cannot be trusted... my life is under threat....
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A special court dealing with the cases under the MCOCA in Pune allowed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the fake stamp scam to put Telgi through the narco-analysis procedure on the December 20, 21, 22, 2003.
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Telgi began the racket in 1995 with hubs in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, but his operations soon spread to Delhi, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh as well..

Telgi's modus operandi involved washing cancelled stamp papers and chemicals to give them a brand new look.Developing valuable connections with officials at security Press in Nashik, Telgi used and then bought government machinery to begin full fledged counterfeiting operations.

Through a wide network of men, Telgi would sell off the counterfeit papers to large organisations including banking firms, financial houses and corporations through attractive discount offers.

Telgi incorporated a large number of politicians and policemen to help expand his racket.He would strike agreements for the circulation of his stamp paper by offering them a statewide contract on the deal.Telgi would also record his phone conversations as a precaution against blackmail.

Timeline

, In 1995, Telgi was jailed in a cheating case, but was released even though anticipatory bail could not be granted for his crime. , The law caught up with Telgi again in 2001.The Karnataka Police, who were tracing a stamp paper fraud, found that the evidence led to Telgi and arrested him in Ajmer.
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, In August 2004, the Delhi police filed a case against Telgi for fraud in the national capital to the tune of over Rs 2 crore. , And in January, 2006, a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Judge U.S.Salvi pronounced the scamster guilty on seven counts, including criminal conspiracy, counterfeiting government stamps and cheating.Telgi was sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) and imposed a fine of Rs.1.4 lakhs.

Where is the story going?

The politicians who have been named by Telgi will come under tremendous pressure to clear the name.

A special investigation team of the Maharashtra police, which is camping in this Andhra Pradesh capital, is looking out for people connected to Yadav and the prime accused, a man called Abdul Karim Telgi.

Rumours are doing the rounds that some state ministers could be involved in the Rs.30 billion scam.
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The team arrested Yadav Saturday from his residence here under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act after finding clinching evidence that Yadav, then minister for labour in Naidu's ministry, had demanded Rs.20 million from prime accused Telgi.

Yadav allegedly allowed Telgi to continue the sale of fake stamp paper despite knowing about it.

Telgi had set up shops to convince several banks and financial institutions that he was an authorised agent dealing in special adhesive stamps, foreign bill stamps, insurance stamps and share transfer stamps.

A telephonic conversation between the two was produced by police Sunday in a Pune court, which remanded Yadav in custody till September 20.The cassette of the tapped telephonic talk was found in Mumbai.

Telgi was arrested in Karnataka in 2001 and during interrogation he revealed Yadav's involvement in scam.

Abdul Karim Telgi named Sharad Pawar in fake stamp case
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Abdul Karim Telgi, the main accused in the multi-crore fake stamp paper scandal, has named Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar during investigation.
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Abdul Karim Telgi, the chief accused of fake stamp paper fraud has named Sharad Pawar during...

Notary stamp - Abdul Karim Telgi named Sharad Pawar in fake stamp case
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Abdul Karim Telgi named Sharad Pawar in fake stamp caseAbdul Karim Telgi, the main accused in the multi-crore fake stamp paper scandal, has named Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar during investigation.
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Abdul Karim Telgi, the chief accused of fake stamp paper fraud has named Sharad Pawar during…