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The Master Mind
 Ontroduction
a The Telgi stamp scam is one of the biggest scam in India. Its
ramifications run deep and cover over 13 states with
Maharashtra leading the way. It has left its stamp of shame
on the top police brass, politicians and bureaucrats. Today a
number of them, are languishing in jails along with the
kingpin, and state·s strong man resigned as cries to boot him
out reached a crescendo.
a Abdul Karim Lad Saab Telgi·s story is that of the rags to the
riches. He started by selling articles on the Belgaum platform
and trains to make out a living and educated himself and by
doing a petty job. He struck gold when he plunged into
printing and selling fake stamps. His operations lasted for
nearly a decade and during this period he was able to keep
the law at bay by bribing the powers that pulled the strings.
a The fake stamp racket involving Abdul Karim Telgi was
exposed in 2000. The loss is estimated to be Rs 171.33 crore
(Rs 1.71 billion), it was initially pegged to be Rs 30,000
crore (Rs 300 bilion), which was later clarified by the CBI as
an exaggerated figure.
a He started by doing what has been even impossible to think of.He
penetrated the confines of Indian Government·s Nashik Security Press
where millions of crores worth court stamp papers and printed in
connivance with the top officials. He bought scrap stamp printing presses in
working conditions, installed them in his Mumbai Press and began printing
and selling stamp papers.
a Telgi's networked spread across 13 states involving 176 offices, 1,000
employees and 123 bank accounts in 18 cities.
a What helped and boosted his sales was that by pulling his political strings
he succeeded in getting a stamp vendors license. In 1994, Abdul Karim
Telgi acquired a stamp paper license from the Indian government and
began printing fake stamp papers. This enabled him to sell in bulk to top
companies and banks. Soon his growing money power gained him so much
clout at Mumbai Stamp Office that for long periods they feigned shortage
of stamps, allowing Telgi·s men to sell stamps at a premium outside the
stamp office.
a Today, many are paying the police of their falling prey to Telgi·s bribes
and Telgi to who has amassed a fortune is down with aids and in jail but
this time without the luxuries of a cell phone or hotel stay. Today·s watch
worth is ´No Telgi Ghee only butterµ
a Though the racket had come to light in 1995 those whose duty was to
expose and bring the guilty to booth engaged them in cover-up and
apparently allowed him to run the racket from his cell by providing him the
cell phone.
a Finally, it was the patience and perseverance of one man, the
indefatigable Anna Hazare who filled a public interest petition in the high
court. This brought things into the open and exposed the role of police and
politicians and under the court·s order the state government was forced to
set up S.I.T who·s findings have sealed the fate by many top brass and
even made the central government to sit up and take action.
a Finally on 18th September,2010 Abdul Karim Telgi, kingpin in the multi-
million rupee fake stamp paper scandal, was sentenced to seven years of
rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs.50,000 by a court in
Bangalore and also 42 other accused were also sentenced to six years of
rigorous imprisonment and imposed fines also.
iey Players Abdul Karim Lad Saab Telgi

a In his early forties, is keeping the police force

of at least 19 states on tenterhooks. The main
suspect in the fake stamp paper racket is a
native of Belgaum district in Karnataka. He
began as a vendor in a small railway station
before coming to Mumbai.
a A meeting with a forger eventually led him to
the stamp and stamp papers business where
demand forever exceeded supply. He
capitalized on this by printing duplicates.
a No one has determined the extent of his
business or the loss to the exchequer, but it is
believed to run into thousands of crores.
a Arrested in 2001, Telgi is now behind bars in
Karnataka.
04
 
 a Among those who reportedly helped Telgi
were several politicians, policemen and
bureaucrats
 Two MLAs - Ä


 

 



Ä 



a Two MLAs - Anil Gote (Dhule, Maharashtra)
and Krishna Yadav (Himayat Nagar, Andhra
Pradesh) - have been arrested and charged
under the Maharashtra Control of Organized
Crime Act.
a Apparently, Gote helped Telgi get a stamp
vendor's license using a recommendation from
former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao
Deshmukh.
a Yadav, it is believed demanded Rs 2 crore to
protect his illegal business.
a Though Telgi's business empire was controlled
from Mumbai, the Maharashtra government
never showed much enthusiasm to expose or
0 1  end the racket.
 Anna Hazare
a Noted social reformer Anna
Hazare filed a PIL in the
Bombay high court to force
the state government to act.
a Today, the investigation is
out of the hands of the state
government and is
monitored by the court.
Some believe that to be
reason for the arrest of
0
5
6

some very high profile
people.
 .1m!$  m $
a On the court's orders, retired
additional DGP Sukhwinder Singh Puri
was appointed head of the Special
Investigation Team(SIT) probing the
racket, as its then chief, DIG Subodh
Jaiswal, was junior to cops who were
under scrutiny.
a Known as 'Justice Puri· in police circles,
Puri enjoys the reputation of being an
upright officer. It was after he entered
the picture that the accused began
emerging from the shadows. He has
shunned the media glare and
steadfastly stuck to his work.
m!$  $
 Commissioner R S Sharma
a Former Mumbai police commissioner R S Sharma is
the highest-ranking officer to be arrested so far.
The SIT says he did not maintain absolute integrity
in the investigation into the scam. Even at the time
of his appointment, Sharma was plagued with
allegations of bribing his way to the top post.
a The telgi scam intensified the conflict between the
congress and the NCP parties, the two leading
partners in the democratic front government, with
chief ministers Shinde were unable to decide the
course of action against the Mumbai police
commissioner Ranjeet Sharma for his alleged role in
ÿmm$

the Rs. 3000 crore fake stamp paper scam.
a Later on he was released.
Ôetwork Of The Scam
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Timeline of The Scam
a Ä Bangalore city police arrest two persons on charge of being in
possession of fake stamp and stamp paper. Investigations led to seizure of fake
stamps and stamp papers valued at Rs9.92 crore. Telgi·s name surfaces in
investigation.
a  · Telgi arrested in Ajmer, Rajasthan by Bangalore city police team. He is
lodged in Bangalore central prison. Apparently with help of prison staff, Telgi
continued to run his camp from jail.
a   · SM Krishna government constituted STAMPIT headed by R Sri Kumar,
addition director general of police with 11 years· CBI experience to probe the Telgi
case.
a    !!· Assistant Inspector Dilip Kamat was arrested for providing facilities
to Telgi in police custody.
a   !· Sitting MLA Anil Gote from Dhule district of Maharashtra is arrested
a Ä !· Senior Inspector Dattatrya Dhal of the Mumbai crime branch Unit
IV was arrested for aiding and abetting Telgi. Dhal was one of the investigating
officers in the scam in Mumbai.Telgi·s lawyer Rasheed Kulkarni was also arrested by
the Karnataka police in August for aiding and abetting his client in the scam.
a m"#$!· Krishna Yadav, former labour minister of Andhra Pradesh and
sitting MLA, is arrested.
a ˜ # %!· Assistant Commissioner of Police Gokul Bhagaji Patil of the state
intelligence department is arrested. Inspector Vashist Andale of Sahar airport and
Sub-Inspector Prabhakar Kakade of Nalasopara police station are also arrested.
a #&!· Shridhar Vagal, joint commissioner of state intelligence department, is
arrested.
a #!· Sub-inspector Digamber V Jangale from Wagle Estate police station of
Thane and Assistant Inspector Leeladhar Nimade from Nashik police are arrested.
a # !· SIT nabs sub-inspector SR Dalvi attached to the Versova police station
for his alleged role in the fake stamp paper case
a  # !· Former Mumbai police commissioner RS Sharma is arrested
a  #!· Assistant Commissioner of Police RB Yenam of Navi Mumbai police
commissionerate is arrested for shielding Telgi.
a  #'!· Retired Pune Assistant Commissioner of Police Mohammed Chand Mulani is
arrested.
a  #%!· Former Deputy Superintendent of Stamps Babanrao Tukaram Ranjane is
arrested
a  # !· PN Jayasimha, former superintendent of Central Jail at Parapana
Agrahara and principal of Prison Training School in Mysore, and assistant jail superintendent
Nanjappa are arrested
a  #!· Inspector Puran Singh, posted in the District Investigating Unit (DIU) of
South District, is arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police·s Crime
Branch. Also Rehan Baig, brother of Karnataka Small Scale Industries Minister Roshan Baig,
surrenders to STAMPIT
a  #'!· API GW Jhadav of the Mumbai police is arrested
a   ('· Stamp Superintendent Ramdas Potale is arrested
a   &'· Deputy Commissioner of Police Pradeep Sawant is arrested for shielding
Telgi.
a   ''· Assistant Commissioner of Police Sangram Singh; Inspector, City Crime
Branch, Val Basha; Sub-Inspector VA Khan; and Deputy Superintendent of Police KM Muddaiah
are suspended by Karnataka government.
a _#'· Mumbai police inspector A Sonwalkar is arrested by SIT
a  #(( CBI says investigation in stamp paper scam over.
a Ä"
$Investigations carried out by a team of the CBI, Income Tax, Directorate of Revenue
Intelligence, Enforcement Directorate and the Reserve Bank of India have revealed that the
financial magnitude of the entire scam was only Rs.172 crores.
a   &·Chitra Kiran Bhedi, special MCOCA judge in Pune, discharged Sharma without
sending him for trial.
a _#$%· Telgi associates charged with selling fake stamps in Capital.
a Ä"
%· Telgi pained by watching film on fake stamp scam
a (%· Fake stam paper kingpin telgi produced in Mumbai court
a  '%· Telgi·s plea to not to try him in more cases rejected.
a  (%· Court asks jail superintendent of Pune, Bangalore to appear in person.
a    %· Telgi brought to bangalore from Pune.
a Ä%· Four get 5 year imprisonment. Shabbir Sheikh, Khalid Badani, Vijay Saluke
and Jacob Chako today confessed before the special CBI Judge A P Gohil that they used to sell
counterfeit stamps to vendors in Gujarat.
a ˜ # %· Telgi informed special CBI Judge C K Bedi through video
conferencing from Bangalore jail that he has couriered his application seeking to
lead himself guilty in one of the fake stamp paper cases pending against him.
a ˜ #'%· Telgi pleads guilty for cases against him in Gujarat.
a 
  Telgi gets 7 years rigorous imprisonment by the Special Court.
a 'Former Maharashtra police chief AN Roy deposed before the court
on his role as a ´sanctioning authorityµ in the Telgi scam. Roy had sanctioned the
criminal proceeding in counterfeit stamp scam involving Abdul Karim Telgi.
a Ä"
 A Delhi court has convicted the kingpin of multi-crore fake stamp
paper scam Abdul Karim Telgi and six others after they admitted their guilt in the
case relating to recovery of counterfeit stamp papers of the face value Rs 2.5 crore
from the capital.
a  · Special Judge Chitra Bedi reinstated.
a _# & Telgi to undergo 10 years RI and 18 others to undergo seven
years RI.
a m" ' ·Special court judge Chandrashekhar Patil convicted 17 out of the 36
accused in the case and acquitted others including former superintendent of central
prison, Jaisimha
a m" % Abdul Karim Telgi, kingpin in the multi-million rupee fake stamp
paper scandal, was sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment and
imposed a fine of Rs.50,000 by a court in Bangalore.
m
   
    

 
   
=irth and Early Career
a ´Lalaµ Telgi·s Code name was the son of a
Class 4 employee in the railways. Abdul
Karim Telgi (born 1961), son of late
m

)abee *# Telgi, an employee of
Indian Railways was left to fend for himself
at an early age after his father's death. He
paid for his own education at Sarvodaya
Vidyalaya, an English medium school, by
selling fruit and vegetables on trains at the
Khanapur station. He completed his B.Com
from a Belgaum college. After this, he
moved to Saudi Arabia. Seven years later,
he returned to India and began to work as
a travel agent. Later he worked in a Colaba
guest house. Around this time he developed
underworld links.
 =ackground
a The sale of gum-washed counterfeit government stamps and stamp
papers was going on from 1984 allegedly by Telgi and his
associates. In 1998, they installed a full-fledged printing house
where counterfeit stamps and stamp papers printing was done on a
large scale.
a Arrested in 1991by Mumbai police for cheating, he learnt the tricks
of the trade from an expert forger in prison. He bribed his way out
of the jail and bided this time. In 1994, he acquired a stamp paper
license, set up at Mint Road and ¶befriended· people in the revenue
ministry, stamp office and Nashik Security Press where stamp papers
are printed.
a In 1994, Abdul Karim Telgi acquired a stamp paper license from the
Indian government and began printing fake stamp papers.
a He used his political connections to get the machinery at the Nashik
press declared as ¶junk·; brought it as the highest bidder; set up the
machinery at his office in Mumbai.
a Obtained the original die for printing in connivance with Nashik
security officials and began printing Fake Stamp Papers. His
excellent political connections to procure imported paper.
a ´Friendsµ at the Nashik press informed him about the serial numbers
of papers being published during the month. Telgi·s Fakes carried
the same numbers and reached the Mumbai markets
a The Fakes were then distributed to authorized members and sold
along with genuine ones. Telgi bribed officials to create a shortage
in the supply of stamp papers.
a The sale of counterfeits was carried out through a network of offices
opened by Telgi in different parts of Maharashtra, including
Mumbai, Thane and Pune.
a As many as 43 stations were taken on rent in these three cities by
the syndicate for sale and printing of these material and 123 bank
accounts opened for realising the sale proceeds.
a Telgi employed a simple method to expand his illegal business. His
agents would first talk to the henchmen of politicians.
a As the next step he would build a chain of `reliable contacts'
through the first contact and deals were struck in his presence. Telgi
would then offer them a Statewide contract. There were different
payments for direct sale, protection, trouble-shooting and so on.
a Telgi floated several companies, including a film distribution agency,
to facilitate his activity. He recruited umemployed youth to sell
counterfeit stamps at 2 per cent discount. Chit companies, along with
courts and real estate agencies, were his prime targets.
a A smart operator, Telgi knew how to protect his interests in the event
of trouble. He regularly recorded his telephonic conversations with
politicians and officials after duly making them announce their
designations and names by way of casual questions. This is one
reason why all those people who were arrested are in real trouble.
Telgi is now in a position to blackmail several governments. The
State governments concerned are afraid of the political fallout if
the taped conversations are made public. At present eight States
have filed cases ag
a They sold counterfeits to government offices, insurance companies,
share brokers, real estate agents, banks and others. They even used
the services of government-licensed vendors in Mumbai and Pune.
Through deception, they obtained huge quantities of papers from
the manufacturing units which supplied the papers to the India
Security Press, Nashik.
a The syndicate also floated transport firms for transportation of
counterfeits from Mumbai to other places, the CBI charge sheet said.
a He appointed 300 people, including M.B.A.·s as agents who sold the
fake to bulk purchasers· banks, FIs, insurance companies, Share
broking firms. His monthly earnings were 100 crores.
a Several cases against him in the 90·s.Was denied bail but not
arrested. Finally arrested in August 2001, after he·d made crores in
the business spanning 72 centers in 12 states over 10 years.
Telgi·s Peers
a His wife Shahida
a his associate Siraj Nasipudi
a his nephew Tabrej Telgi
a Sabbir Sheikh
a Sajju
a printer Udai Sawant
a former Maharashtra MLA Anil Gote
a former Andhra Pradesh Minister C.B.K. Yadav
a former Mumbai Police Commissioner R.S.Sharma
a former Joint Commissioner of Police
a Crime Branch, Mumbai, S.S. Bhagal
a former Deputy Commissioner (Detection) of Mumbai Police, Pradip Sawant
a General of police Sridhar Vagal
a advocate Farhatullah
a These are just few names, the list contains a lot more, some made public
and others are still under the hide..
 Printer·s Devil
a The Swindler·s Story began when Abdul Karim Telgi started printing and
distributing fake stamp papers in Mumbai in 1995. He bought a second hand
printing machine from the Nashik Security Press at an auction. He then reportedly
stole original dies used for manufacturing stamps and stamp papers. His excellent
political connections helped him procure imported paper and organized that his
fakes couldn·t be distinguished from the originals. This printing and sales of fake
stamp duty paper spread losses worth crores of rupees to the Indian government.
a The fake stamp papers were then sold in the market through Telgi·s distribution
agents ² most of these agents included several authorized stamp vendors. Telgi
paid hefty commissions to buy their silence. As a result nobody leaked information
about the racket to the enforcement authorities. He bought politicians too. These
politicians, who were on Telgi·s regular payroll deliberately created a shortage in
supply of stamp papers in Mumbai. It was then that Telgi·s marketing agents sold
the fakes for a premium outside the government stamp office in fort area.
a When finally the Mumbai police got wind of the scam and registered cases against
telgi at 12 police stations, telgi simply bribed his way out of the hole he suddenly
found himself in. He managed to escape from Mumbai despite the court rejecting is
bail application. The Bangalore police suddenly arrested him in Ajmer in august
2000. By then his scam had spread across 12 states.
a Telgi·s organized racket had the connivance of officials from the Nashik Security
Press, IAS and IPS officers, lawyers, MLA·s, cabinet ministers and even former state
minister.
Counterfeiting Career
a He began printing fake stamp paper. He appointed 300 people as
agents who sold the fakes to bulk purchasers, including banks, FIs,
insurance companies, and share-broking firms. His monthly profits
have been estimated as being in the neighbourhood of Rs 202 crore
(slightly more than US $40 million).
a The size of the scam was estimated to be more than 43,000 Cr
Rupees. But later on it was found to be around 171.33 crores only.
a The Telgi case brought corruption in the Karnataka police force to
light, causing a national scandal in India. A videotape emerged in
September 2006 of Abdul Karim Telgi taking a Narco Analysis test.
Under the influence of the supposed truth serum, Telgi is said to
have blurted out the names of Nationalist Congress Party leaders
Sharad Pawar and Chaggan Bhujbal. Pawar has never been
publicly linked to the case, but was forced to go public with a
denial.
a On 17 January 2006, Telgi and several associates were sentenced
to ten years' rigorous imprisonment.
a On June 28, 2007 Telgi was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for
13 years and fined a whopping Rs 202 crore on various counts in
one of the main cases of the scandal. Hours after Telgi pleaded
guilty and repented his actions, Judge Chitra Bedi of a special court
pronounced the quantum of punishment under various sections of the
IPC and the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act. This is
the harshest punishment given to Telgi in any of the fake stamp
paper cases he has been convicted for so far in Maharashtra and
Karnataka. Honourable Judge Chitra Bedi observed that she had
taken a "lenient view" since Telgi, who is in judicial custody in Pune,
had pleaded guilty and also because of his health. Telgi is HIV
positive.
a Honorable Judge Chitra Bedi sentenced 42 other accused in the
case, who too had pleaded guilty, to rigorous impriosnment for up to
six years and imposed fines on them. CBI counsel Raja Thakare
moved an application in the court seeking the confiscation of Telgi's
property to recover the fine slapped on him. Telgi, who broke down
earlier in the day while pleading guilty, thanked the judge for
"giving him justice."
Comptroller Auditor General(Goa)


)"

a The Comptroller and Auditor General of India found a
mysterious difference of Rs.30.19 crore between the sale and
registration of non-judicial impressed stamps paper in Goa.
The unexplained gap was detected for the period 1998-
2003 when incidentally the operations of infamous stamp
paper scam kingpin Abdul Karim Telgi had spread to several
states across the country.
a Non-judicial impressed stamp-paper worth only Rs 72.54
crore was sold by the State treasuries from 1998 to 2003
against Rs 102.73 crore registered during that period, the
CAG report for the year 2003-04 had revealed.
a The report had also pointed out that as on March 31, 2004,
NJIS worth Rs 58.12 crore was lying in the State treasuries,
which was much higher than the estimated average sale worth
Rs 14.96 crore.
Sangeeta Choure, the then Accountant-General of Goa, had
stressed that, "The difference needs to be investigated. The
state government and specifically the finance department had
been asked to explain the difference about a year ago, but
have been unable to do so."
a But the report points out that up until 1998, the sale of stamp
paper annually ranged between Rs 11-17 crore. The question
is why a requisition for Rs 30.19 crore worth of stamp paper
from the Government Printing Press at Nashik suddenly
cropped up.
Movie Film
a Mudrank (The Stamp) is a film based on his
life, though it has not yet been released as
Telgi was unhappy with Mudrank. The movie-
film is expected and will release soon.
As of 2010, it has been reported by various
sources that the film has been cancelled.
Producer- Vishal srivastava
=iblography
a Google
a Yahoo.com
a The Hindu(newspaper)
a The Times Of India
a www.scribd.com
a Telhka-The people·s paper
THANK YOU