Fake stamp paper kingpin Abdul Karim Telgi dead

The kingpin of the fake stamp paper racket, Abdul Karim Telgi passed away at a hospital in Bengaluru. He had been admitted in a critical condition at the Victoria hospital. He passed away due to multiple organ failure.

He was suffering from brain fever since the past several days. M T Nanaiah, the advocate who has represented Telgi in the case informed OneIndia that the jail authorities had delayed admitting him to hospital.

He arrived at the hospital in a critical condition and was kept on ventilator support for the past week.

Telgi was arrested several years back in connection with the multi crore fake stamp paper racket. He was convicted in several cases of counterfeiting.

Telgi's mother was Shariefabee Ladsaab Telgi, and his father was an employee of Indian Railways. His father died while he was young. Telgi paid for his own education at Sarvodaya Vidyalaya Khanapur, an English medium school, by selling fruit and vegetables on trains. Eventually, he moved to Saudi Arabia. Seven years later, he returned to India, at which time he began a career in counterfeiting, originally focusing on fake passports.

Telgi moved to more complex counterfeiting when he began to counterfeit stamp paper. He appointed 350 people as agents who sold the fakes to bulk purchasers, including banks, insurance companies, and stock brokerage firms. The size of the scam was estimated to be more than Rs 200 billion (US$3.1 billion).

One aspect of the scandal that caused much concern was that it required the involvement of many police officers and other government employees.

On 17 January 2006, Telgi and several associates were sentenced to 30 years rigorous imprisonment. On 28 June 2007, Telgi was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 13 years for another aspect of the scandal. He was also fined Rs 10 billion (US$160 million).

The Income Tax Department requested that Telgi's property be confiscated to pay the fine.

He had been in jail for 13 years.

Mudrank (The Stamp) was a film based on the stamp scandal. It was finished in 2008, but Telgi filed legal challenges to prevent its release. Telgi alleged that the details covered in the film would damage his legal appeals.

OneIndia News