14 CDs, 164 confessional statements to be opened tomorrow

Pune, July 24 (UNI) A Pandora's box may open tomorrow and many heads are expected to roll in the Maharashtra and Karnataka Governments after Special Judge Chitra K Bhedi here today ordered the opening of 14 CDs containing taped conversations of prime accused Abdul Karim Telgi and others, arrested in connection with multi-crore fake stamp paper scam.

Also, 164 confessional statements of various accused, whose statements were recorded by magistrates and sealed in 18 packets, would be opened tomorrow morning in compliance with the orders of the Bombay High Court.

Tight security arrangements have been made as the Special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) Judge ordered all the lawyers representing various accused and all the accused who do not have lawyers to be present in the court at 1030hrs for signing and giving their consent for opening the sealed information.

The court official will open the CDs and the confessional statements tomorrow.

About 675 copies of CDs would be made by an agency in the court premises and arrangements for the same have been ordered by the court.

Earlier, on July 20, Bombay High Court Justice R S Mohite had ordered the information to be unsealed and opened as the hearing on the bail application plea of former Dhule MLA Anil Gote was due for July 26.

For the past few years, the multi-crore fake stamp paper scam has been in news and 67 people have been arrested, including 13 policemen like former Mumbai Police Commissioner Ranjit Sharma and Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Pradip Sawant and Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Shridhar Vagal, besides two MLAs -- Anil Gote from Maharashtra and K C Boyanna from Andhra Pradesh Assembly.

In Bangalore, the special investigations team STAMPIT arrested Telgi.

After they found he had a mobile in his possession and was continuing with his activities from the jail, the team decided to tape all the conversations.

A total 56 CDs have been recorded, of which 14 are related to the case registered at Bund Garden in Pune. Based on this information, a series of arrests followed including that of policemen, politicians and others.

The Public Prosecutor Raja Thackeray obtained permission from the Karnataka High Court for the CDs to be delivered to the MCOCA Court.

The Bombay High Court in the course of hearings related to the stamp scam referred to the CDs but did not use the information as evidence.

UNI DWN SSS SB RK2121