Stamp paper scam kingpin Telgi was suffering from meningitis and was on ventilator, his lawyer had said earlier. (Image: IE)
One of India’s biggest counterfeiters Abdul Karim Telgi who was sentenced for allegedly running a fake stamp paper racket died at Bengaluru’s Victoria hospital at around 8: 30 pm on October October 23. Stamp paper scam kingpin Telgi was suffering from meningitis and was on ventilator, his lawyer had said earlier. Reportedly, he died of multiple organ failure. In 2002-03, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) busted his racket after tapping a number of phones. Telgi was sentenced to a 30-year jail term for printing counterfeit stamp papers in India and selling them on to various institutions. The amount involved was then estimated to be worth billions of rupees. After SIT probe, the court slammed Telgi with a 30-year jail term for selling fake stamp paper to banks, insurance companies, brokerage firms and others. A fine of Rs 202 cr was imposed on Telgi.
Telgi started off by selling stamps at his vending stall and later he started fulfilling large statutory and legal requirements demand for stamp papers which government was not providing in enough numbers to meet the huge demand in the country.
Pune police had finally registered a case against Telgi in 2003 for allegedly heading the stamp paper scam. The size of the scam was reportedly said to be somewhere between Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 crore. All of this was happening right from the early 1990s.
He had appointed as many as 350 people as agents who sold the fakes to bulk purchasers.
In June 2007, Telgi was once again sentenced to imprisonment for 13 years for another case in the scandal. The Income Tax Department had requested that Telgi’s properties should be confiscated to pay the fine.
