M A I N   N E W S

Telgi names top cops, politicians
S. Iyer

Mumbai, February 9
Forger Abdul Karim Telgi who masterminded the multi-crore-rupee fake stamp paper racket has revealed the involvement of senior politicians and police officials in the scam.

Officials of the Special Investigating Team (SIT) probing the scam in Pune today revealed details of Telgi’s confessions to the press.

According to the SIT, which obtained the confessions from Telgi after the truth serum was administered to him, the forger is said to have had paid Rs 22 lakh to former Mumbai Police Commissioner Ranjit Singh Sharma. Telgi also told investigators that Sharma helped him in the fake stamp paper “business” by getting junior police officials to look the other way.

Sharma was the Police Commissioner of Pune and Mumbai when the scam broke.

The revelations by SIT officials come amidst talk in police circles that Sharma had obtained huge sums of money from Telgi in order to pay off political bosses in Maharashtra in a deal that helped him become Mumbai’s Police Commissioner.

Details of the narco-analysis test done on Telgi also indicate that the forger also had political ambitions. Journalist-turned-Maharashtra-MLA Anil Gote, who is already under arrest, obtained funds from Telgi to finance the elections of several candidates, according to the forger’s confessions. Six of the candidates won the elections.

Apart from Gote, Telgi had also paid Rs 32 lakh to former Telugu Desam Party MLA C. Krishna Yadav. Both Gote and Yadav are now under arrest.

Shockingly, Telgi told investigators that he was still paying off several policemen at the time of his narco-analysis tests.