Last week, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) founder Sharad Pawar ticked off Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal over his criticism for being forced to resign from the government back in 2003. Responding to Bhujbal’s criticism, Pawar senior said his one-time colleague would have ended up in jail in the Telgi case if he hadn’t resigned.
It’s been two decades but the rumblings of the stamp paper scam which had Abdul Karim Telgi as a mastermind, continue to reverberate in Maharashtra. A jackfruit seller to a stamp vendor turned master forger, Telgi, first came into focus in 2003, two years after his arrest that unfolded an unholy nexus between criminals, politicians and police.
Known for his proximity with police officials, Telgi during 1998 had procured a stamp paper machine from Indian Security Press to run the racket of printing and selling fake stamps before being worked as a stamp paper vendor. To sell stamps as a vendor, Telgi had made an application before the then revenue minister Vilasrao Deshmukh-led government in 1994.
Four years later, Telgi procured the machine and started publishing fake stamp paper scams in Mumbai. In 2003, police recovered fake stamps worth ₹3,000 crore, which never really came into the market. His arrest and the subsequent interrogation exposed rivalry among officials with the Maharashtra police force.
As the scam unfolded, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by the then deputy commissioner of police and an upright officer CH Wakde arrested 67 persons including senior police officials, bureaucrats and politicians.
Telgi died in October 2017, after a prolonged illness, almost 10 years after his conviction in the biggest stamp paper case registered at Bund Garden. The court imprisoned him on multiple counts with a total sentence of 29 years with a whopping fine of ₹250 crores. However, as the imprisonment was to be served concurrently, Telgi’s sentence was compressed to 13 years. After the 2007 verdict, Telgi confessed his crime in a series of other cases including Mumbai, Nashik and Bengaluru.
Over a period, many senior police officials such as former Mumbai police commissioner Ranjit Sharma and deputy commissioner of police Pradeep Sharma were discharged by the court. Some vendors and politicians like Anil Gote served jail terms while few others only faced allegations with no case.
Among the most high-profile names surfaced in the scam was the then-home minister of Maharashtra Chhagan Bhujbal, who had to lose his ministry following a barrage of allegations even as no case was filed against him. After his name surfaced, Bhujbal was targeted by then-opposition parties Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena. A prominent OBC (Other Backward Classes) leader then, Bhujbal and his nephew Sameer were grilled in the case after, ironically, the SIT constituted by the ministry he once headed cited excerpts in its report about names.
The SIT in its report relying on narco-analysis tests and brain mapping conducted on Telgi named several high-profile partners and beneficiaries in the fraud. It was seen as Telgi’s confession indicating the help he offered to all those who helped him.
During the test, Telgi had spoken at length about his alleged association with politicians from Maharashtra, and Karnataka, and police officials. Bhujbal’s name too figured in the report even as the senior NCP politician vehemently denied his role in the scam. Subsequently, Telgi’s lawyers denied that he underwent such tests although probe officials argued the fake stamp paper scam kingpin had signed all required documents before the tests were administered.
There was no FIR filed against Bhujbal nor did he face any arrest in the case. However, party chief Sharad Pawar found it increasingly difficult to retain Bhujbal in the cabinet amid media onslaught. Finally, in December 2003, Pawar found an excuse to drop Bhujbal from the cabinet. The OBC leader had to step down after his supporters attacked a television channel that carried reports about his alleged involvement in the scandal.
Perhaps Pawar realised that retaining Bhujbal would mean an electoral setback in polls that were scheduled months later. Or as Pawar said in last week, Bhujbal was about to be arrested.
“I read remarks made by some people. He (Bhujbal) would have been in jail much earlier if I had not taken his resignation then,” Pawar had said. Saving Bhujbal from arrest, and preventing setbacks in 2004 polls helped both NCP leaders. However, it remained unclear forever if Telgi was really assisted in carrying out scams by politicians in Maharashtra.
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