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Eleven years after the first case was registered against
Abdul Karim Telgi in the multi-crore stamp paper scam,
special CBI judge U D Salvi on Tuesday pronounced him
guilty on seven counts and sentenced him to ten years
rigorous imprisonment.
Among the charges Telgi was held guilty of were criminal
conspiracy, counterfeiting government stamps and cheating.
The case had passed hands from the city police to the
special investigation team and finally to the CBI.
Telgi, who has been cooling his heels in the Yerawada
jail in Pune for the last two years, was beamed into
the sessions court via a video-conferencing facility.
Nabbed in 2003, he has been behind bars since, effectively
reducing his sentence by two-and-a-half years.
Although this was the first case against Telgi in the
stamp paper scam, there are several more which were
registered against him since 1995. It was the stamp
scam in Pune that brought him notoriety.
After declaring Telgi guilty, judge Salvi asked him
if he had anything to say. Telgi, looking clean-shaven
with his hair gelled, pleaded for leniency from his
jail environs citing his HIV-positive status.
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