Abdul Karim Telgi – The multi-crore fake stamp paper scam case
-Ananya Singh (Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies, GGSIPU)
ABSTRACT:
Abdul Karim Telgi, the mastermind of the multi-crore bogus stamp paper fraud, tested positive in a P-300 brain-mapping test. Telgi underwent the test last year to establish if he paid former Maharashtra deputy chief minister Chagan Bhujhbal for favours. According to the report on the Telgi brain mapping test, the major findings are indicative of Karim Telgi’s knowledge of the activities; brain activation during preparation processing, while evoking primary encoding, indicates active participation by Karim Telgi in all of these activities.
WHAT IS THE TELGI SCAM CASE?
The Telgi Stamp Scam is a major scam in India. The tendrils of the bogus stamp and stamp paper scandal, also known as the Telgi scam, have spread across 12 states and are believed to be worth more than Rs 20,000 crore. Between 1992 and 2002, 12 complaints of counterfeit stamps were reported against Telgi in Maharashtra alone, with another 15 cases filed in other areas of the nation. The Telgi fraud is far from a tale of police corruption and government collusion assisting a smart crook in establishing a rapidly expanding questionable enterprise.
KEY PLAYERS:
Abdul Karim Telgi is the main accused in the multi-crore phoney stamp paper fraud.’ Lala- Telgi, the Code name, was the son of a Class 4 railway employee.
Abdul Karim Telgi (born 1961), son of the late Sharifabee Ladsaab Telgi, an Indian Railways employee, was forced to fend for himself at a young age following his father’s death. He funded his own education at Sarvodaya Vidyalaya, an English-medium school, by selling fruit and vegetables on trains at Khanapur station. He earned his B.Com from a Belgaum institution.
Following this, he relocated to Saudi Arabia. Seven years later, he returned to India and started working as a travel agent. Later, he worked at a Colaba guesthouse. Around this period, he was developing for world links.
BACKGROUND:-
Telgi and his friends reportedly sold gum-washed counterfeit government stamps and stamp sheets starting in 1984.In 1998, they established a full-fledged printing business, where counterfeit stamps and stamp sheets were printed on a huge scale.
He was arrested by Mumbai police in 1991 for defrauding and learned the skills of the trade from an adept forger while in prison. He bribed his way out of jail and bided his time. In 1994, he obtained a stamp paper licence, established a business on Mint Road, and made friends with officials from the revenue ministry, stamp office, and Nashik Security Press, which prints stamp papers.
Abdul Karim Telgi obtained a stamp paper licence from the Indian government in 1994 and began producing counterfeit stamps.
He utilised his political contacts to get the gear at the Nashik press declared as trash, then brought it as the highest bidder and put it up in his office in Mumbai.
In collaboration with Nashik security personnel, they obtained the original printing die and began making Fake Stamp Papers. He used his great political contacts to obtain imported paper.
Friends at the Nashik press notified him of the serial numbers of pieces published during the month. Telgi’s fakes reached Mumbai marketplaces with identical quantities.
The counterfeits were subsequently supplied to authorised members and sold alongside real products. Telgi bribed authorities, causing a scarcity of stamp sheets.
Telgi established a network of offices across Maharashtra, including Mumbai, Thane, and Pune, to sell counterfeit goods.
Telgi established a network of offices throughout Maharashtra, including Mumbai, Thane, and Pune, to sell counterfeit goods.
The syndicate rented 43 stations in these three cities for the sale and printing of these materials, and 123 bank accounts were formed to collect the revenues from the sales.
Telgi used a simple approach to expand his unlawful company. His spies would first speak with the henchmen of politicians.
NETWORK OF THE SCAM:
- 13 States
- 176 offices
- 1000 employees
- 123 bank accounts in 18 cities
- 43 stations for sale
- 72 centres
- More than 20,000crores
HOW THE SCAM HAPPENED?
Abdul Karim Telgi perfected the technique of fraud by producing duplicate stamp sheets and selling them to banks and other entities.The bogus stamp and stamp paper scandal had spread across 12 states and was expected to be worth more than Rs. 20,000 crore.
The Telgi got obvious backing from government departments in charge of producing and selling high-security stamps.Abdul Karim Telgi of Belgaum, Karnataka, is the principal culprit in the huge Telgi fraud, which is valued over 43,000 crores.
The fraud involves the production and distribution of old duplicate stamps and stamp paper. In 2003, Abdul Karim Telgi began making false stamp paper and engaged approximately 300 agents to sell the duplicate stamp papers to bulk customers such as banks, financial institutions, insurance companies, and share brokerage businesses.
There were additional documents that clearly show that there was a lot of unlawful cooperation from many other government organisations and agencies that helped with the manufacturing and sale of high security stamps.
NUMERICAL FIGURES:-
The Maharashtra Police’s Special Investigating Team (SIT) estimated the scam’s overall worth at Rs.21,28,47,07,824. Later, the Union Home Secretary amended the figure to Rs.32,000 crore.
A seized bogus stamp worth Rs. 170 crores is on exhibit in Bangalore. Former Finance Minister Jaswant Singh was Speaking in the Lok Sabha on a calling attention motion on the stamp paper fraud, the minister stated that the authorities have lodged 74 charges in this regard, 15 of which were against the prime offender, Abdul Karim Telgi.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) first handled the case from 1995 to 2003 before handing it over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on April 13, 2004. On January 17, 2006, Telgi and many colleagues were sentenced to ten years severe jail. On June 28, 2007, Telgi was sentenced to 13 years of severe imprisonment.
Honourable Judge Chitra Bedi sentenced 42 other offenders in the case, who had also pleaded guilty, to harsh imprisonment for up to six years and fined them. Mudrank, a film on the Telgi fraud, was released in 2008.
IMPACT OF TELGI SCAM
The public sector bank has become more accountable. The government checked the stock of Stamp Papers with authorised dealers.
Bank managers guarantee that subsequent transactions are correct.
TRUE FACTS
NEW DELHI: After nearly two years of investigation into what was once touted as the mother of all frauds, money. The total sum involved in the entire bogus stamp paper case masterminded by Abdul Karim Teigi was Rs 172 crore, not Rs 30,000 crore, as was thought when the matter initially surfaced.
Investigations conducted by a team of the CBI, Income Tax, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Enforcement Directorate, and the Reserve Bank of India found that the total financial magnitude of the fraud was just Rs 172 crore.
This was conveyed to the Union Home Ministry in a report presented this week by the different agencies, which provided an update on the progress of the 48 cases recorded in 2004 in response to Supreme Court directives. It was previously estimated that the scandal totalled almost Rs 30,000 crore.
The team evaluated the period between 1993 and 2002, and discovered that the financial significance of the entire case increased substantially only after 1998, when Telgi established his own production plant, according to Home Ministry sources.
During the investigations, the team discovered that the suspected scamster had 36 houses throughout the nation and 123 bank accounts in 18 cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, and Indore, the sources said. Out of the 48 cases, 46 had either been sent for trial or were in the process of being charge sheeted, making it an unusual achievement for the CBI to finish such a significant number of cases in less than two years.
Telgi paid bribes of Rs 12.35 crore to government officials, invested Rs 2.98 crore in dance clubs, and spent Rs 2 crore on filmmaking.
Telgi, who had been convicted in one of the stamp paper fraud cases and was imprisoned in a Pune jail, had also donated Rs 14 crore to humanitarian causes such as ambulance purchases, minor hospital construction, and contributions to the celebration of various religious holidays, according to the article. Telgi also had a fondness for pricey watches and diamond jewellery.
INVESTIGATION BY CBI:
The CBI has formed a seven-member team to investigate the financial size and bank activities of those implicated in the fraud, including Telgi.
During the investigations, the committee looked at topics including account-wise tabulation and analysis of debits from the bank accounts, figured out the final use of money, and if the monies have been utilised to create assets or for laundering in other business fields.
The crew also studied credits into bank accounts, with the intention of linking them to the supply of phoney stamps, as well as the income tax returns filed by Telgi and his subordinates.
CONVICTION BY COURT:
The first conviction in the multi-crore fake stamp paper scandal, a special court today sentenced alleged kingpin Abdul Karim Telgi and his two associates to ten years each for their role in selling counterfeit steins of Rs 17 lakh face value to a legal firm here in 1995. The court also fined them Rs 50,000.
This is Telgi’s first conviction, and he is currently being held in Pune’s Yerwada prison. This is also the first case in which he was conducted via video conference by CBI.
The phoney stamp fraud cost about Rs 30.000 crore. Teigi is facing 48 complaints brought against him across the nation, including Maharashtra and Karnataka.
Telgi and his companions, Sanjay Gaikwad and Ram Ratan Soni, were each sentenced to ten years in prison and fined Rs 50,000 for conspiracy (Section 120-B IPC). The court additionally sentenced Telgi to 10 years of RI under Section 255 IPC (for faking official stamps) and ordered him to pay a fine of Rs 50,000.
Telgi was also sentenced to five years in prison and a Rs 20,000 punishment for violating Sections 258 and 259 of the IPC. He was sentenced to three years in prison under Sections 420 and 511 of the IPC (cheating). All of the sentences would run concurrently.
Telgi did not attend in court, but asked for leniency via video conference, citing his HIV/AIDS and the fact that his wife was hospitalised.
FUTHER INVESTIGATION BY CBI
CASE 1: Connection of Telgi with Veerappan
BANGALORE, FEBRUARY 16: The Supreme Court granted bail to the highest-ranking police official accused in Karnataka in connection with the bogus stamp paper scheme, former Assistant Commissioner of Police TG Sangaram Singh.
Sangaram Singh caused a stir in Bangalore in July 2004, when he claimed that in 2001, the SM Krishna-led Congress administration used Abdul Kareem Telgi’s money to pay a ransom to the late forest brigand Veerappan in exchange for the release of film star Rajkumar. Singh said he helped convey Rs 20 crore to Veerappan.
On July 8, 2004, the CBI detained Singh in connection with a 1997 fake stamp paper case filed in Bangalore. He was accused of taking a bribe to liberate Telgi’s brother Abdul Raheem Telgi, after first holding him and four others for possessing fraudulent stamp documents.
The CBI has accused Singh with enabling the bogus stamp paper business and under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Following his detention, Singh submitted a confessional statement to a court in Bangalore, claiming that he was being made a scapegoat to protect senior police officers and ministers. Singh, a cousin of former chief minister Dharam Singh, is the first of the five Karnataka police officers detained in the bogus stamp paper case to have been granted bail.
CASE 2- CONFESSION BY TELGI:
MUMBAI, JAN 31. The stage is set for Abdul Karim Telgi to deliver a confession in a 1995 secure case, with a special court today ordering a magistrate in Pune to record his testimony on February 4, in connection with the phoney stamp paper scandal.
Special Jutge UD Salvi here, and the order changed. Telgi informed him via video conference that he wanted to confess in the case in which he was charged with attempting to sell fraudulent stamp papers.
Other accused, including suspended police officer Ganpat yadav, stated they had no objections to Taigi making a lesson because it had yet to begin in the 1995 case recorded by cod. The judge asked where he wanted to confess, and he responded sure.
The Court requested that the first class Judicial Magistrate in Pune to record the statement of Talgi, who is now imprisoned in yerwada prion, and promptly forwarded the confession to court.
CONCLUSION:
TELGI stamps were one of India’s largest scams. This sort of swindle, which occurs from time to time, damages our country’s roots. As a result, we must abandon the creation of new institutions to combat corruption in favour of making current authorities more effective in preventing it. However, we believe that if these resources are used properly, we will undoubtedly become a developed nation in a relatively short amount of time.
