Mumbai, November 29
In a significant development in the multi-crore fake stamp paper case, a top Mumbai police officer was suspended, a day before his retirement, even as the police seized fake adhesive stamps of Rs 72 lakh from a dump in Nasik.
Crime Branch Assistant Commissioner of Police Ramakant Padaval was suspended for allegedly shielding the prime accused Abdul Karim Telgi by allowing his juniors to go soft on him when he was in custody of city police early this year.
Indicted former Police Commissioner R S Sharma, who is also due to retire tomorrow, failed to turn up for questioning despite being summoned by the special investigation team, SIT sources said adding that he cited personal reasons for not coming.
The Mumbai police unearthed a fake stamp dump worth Rs 72 lakh at Nasik where the Indian Security Press is located, following interrogation of a suspect involved in fake franking case.
SIT sources did not rule out the possibility of the dump having links with the Telgi case. In a related development, Telgi’s lawyer M.T. Nanaiah told reporters in Bangalore that his client had not written any diary mentioning the involvement of 19 ministers in the scam. He wondered how the police could find a diary written by Telgi who has been in prison for the past two years.
Telgi’s lawyer also alleged that his client had informed the police about the involvement of nine persons in Bangalore in the scam, but no action had been taken against them. He, however, clarified that they were not ministers.
Padaval is the third police officer who has been suspended but not arrested in this case. Five other cops, including Joint Commissioner of Police Sridhar Vagal, have been arrested in connection with the scam.
Padaval was questioned several times during the past two months by the SIT, the sources said. —
PTI
