Karnataka’s multi-crore fake stamp paper mastermind Abdul Karim Telgi is battling for life as his condition is critical due to multiple organ complications. Telgi, who has been suffering from meningitis, was admitted last week to Bengaluru’s Victoria Hospital.
Telgi is serving 30 years of rigorous imprisonment at the Parappana Agrahara Central Jail in Bengaluru, in connection with the multi-crore fake stamp paper scam. Let’s know more about Abdul Karim Telgi and the fake stamp paper scam:
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About his early life:
- Abdul Karim Telgi’s mother is Shariefabee Ladsaab Telgi, and his father was an employee of Indian Railways. He is from Belgaum in Karnataka. And his father died when he was young.
- He paid his own school fees by selling fruits and vegetables.
- Eventually, Telgi moved to Saudi Arabia, and after years he returned to India, with a new career of counterfeiting. When he originally started counterfeiting, he only focused on fake passports.
The Telgi Scam:
- Telgi, in later years, after returning moved to a more complex counterfeiting when he began to counterfeit stamp paper.
- In 1993, Telgi was arrested in connection with a minor forgery case.
- After which, from 1993-2002, Telgi made good connections with officers in government security press in Nashik to print counterfeit stamp papers, purchased machinery at government auctions and sold the counterfeit stamp papers at heavy discounts.
- He appointed 350 people as agents who sold the fakes to bulk purchasers, including banks, insurance companies, and stock brokerage firms.
- Telgi scam is said to be worth more than Rs 20,000 crore.
- Between 1992 and 2002, 12 cases were registered against Telgi relating to counterfeit stamps in Maharashtra alone and 15 cases in other parts of the country, but the lack of serious action suggests that the scamster had mastered the technique of corrupting the system.
- The economy was badly hit by this scam as it was spread across 72 towns and 18 states, many state had been badly affected by the scam due to huge losses in revenue.
- After the scam unearthed, Telgi and many others were arrested in 2001.
- The investigators also found that he had links with politicians and senior police officers.
- The investigation also unveiled that Telgi had 36 properties across country 123 bank accounts in 18 cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Indore.
- On 28 June 2007, Telgi was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 13 years for other aspects of the scam.
- He was also slapped with a Rs 202 crore fine in the case.
- In July 2017, a report by DIG (Prisons) D Roopa revealed that the convict used to get special treatment at the jail, and was allotted three-four inmates to give him a body massage, owing to his severe health condition. He has also been diagnosed with AIDS and is undergoing treatment for that as well.
(Inputs from Agencies)
