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CBI today filed a chargesheet in the MCOCA Court, Pune against
67 accused persons including Abdul Karim Ladsab Telgi, his
wife, his associates, a former MLA of Maharashtra, a former
Minister of Andhra Pradesh and nine police officials. The
302 page chargesheet was filed after CBI completed its investigation
in the ‘famous’ Bund Garden Police Station case
in which printing machinery as well as fake Govt. stamps and
non-judicial stamp papers worth about Rs. 2900 crore were
seized. Besides Telgi,the chargesheet includes the name of
his wife, Shahida Telgi, his associates, Siraj Nasipudi, his
nephew Tabrej Telgi, Sabbir Sheikh, Sajju, a printer Udai
Sawant, former MLA of Maharashtra Assembly, Anil gote, former
Andhra Pradesh Minister, C.B.K. Yadav, former Mumbai Police
Commissioner R.S.Sharma, a former Joint Commissioner of Police,
Crime Branch, Mumbai, S.S.Bhagal, former DCP (Detection),
Pradip Sawant.
This case was taken up on the orders of the Supreme Court
for in depth investigation to find the nexus between politicians,
senior police officials and other Govt. servants who might
have helped Telgi to carry out his unlawful activity of sale
of fake stamps and stamp papers. During investigation, CBI
scrutinised more than 1200 documents, earlier seized by the
Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Maharashtra, and on its
own seized more than 8215 documents and examined 250 witnesses.
Besides, 873 documents were got translated from Marathi to
English. The chargesheet cites 255 witnesses, whereas the
SIT had earlier cited 129 witnesses. CBI also tried to co-relate
the evidence collected in this case with a series of other
cases registered by CBI on the orders of the Apex Court. The
findings of SIT was also co-related and further evidence was
gathered. In addition to the accused chargesheeted by the
SIT, more than 22 accused/suspects were probed thoroughly
to reach at the roots of the Organised Crime Syndicate of
Telgi. During investigation, CBI found involvement of nine
police officials in the scam and it also recommanded action
against other eight police officers including two high ranking
retired officials for their acts of misconduct. During investigation,
basing on the disclosure of the arrested accused, a printing
machine and positive plate making machine were seized which
were earlier unsuccessfully used by Telgi for printing rupee
one revenue stamp. The study of the financial transaction
relating to the printing, circulation and sale of counterfeit
Govt. stamps and stamp papers were also carried out to establish
the modus-operandi relating to the disposal of the funds.
In addition, a second report from a Chartered Accountant firm
was also obtained to link the bank transactions with the details
mentioned in the print-outs from a Lap top which was seized
during investigation.
CBI detected four more properties in Maharashtra which had
been acquired through funds generated from the sale of these
stamp and stamp papers. Income Tax Department was also requested
to undertake the evaluation of the 14 properties detected
by SIT and CBI for the purpose of establishing the investments
made in such properties by Telgi network which were proved
to have been procured through the sale proceeds of these stamp
and stamp papers. The report from the Income tax Department
is being awaited. To facilitate simultaneous trial of the
accused in courts, Governments of Karnatka and Maharashtra
were approached for installing Video Conferencing facility
in the court/jail premises at Pune and Bangalore and similar
process has also been initiated with the Govt. of NCT of Delhi.
During the investigation, a total number of 18 confessional
statements of the accused have been recorded besides recording
of statements of 49 witnesses under-section 164 Cr.P.C.
This case, which was originally registered with the P.S.
Bund Garden as Crime Report No.135/2002, is an important case
relating to printing, circulation and sale of counterfeit
stamps and stamp papers by the Organised Crime Syndicate headed
by Telgi. However, before the registration of this case on
7/6/2002 by the Bund Garden P.S., the sale of gum-washed counterfeit
Govt. stamps and stamp papers were in circulation from 1984
onwards by Telgi and his associates. In 1998, they installed
a full fledged printing house where printing of such counterfeit
stamps and stamp papers were carried out on a large scale.
The sale of these counterfeits were carried out through a
network of offices opened by Telgi in different parts of Maharashtra
including at Mumbai, Thane and Pune. 43 stations were taken
on rent in these three cities by the syndicate for sale and
printing of these material. 67 bank accounts were in these
three cities for realising the amounts collected through cheques
from the sale proceeds. They sold these counterfeits to Govt.
offices, Insurance Companies, Share Brokers, Real Estate Agents,
Banks and others. They even utilised the services of Govt.
Licensed Vendors at Mumbai and Pune to authenticate the sale
of these material. Through deception, they obtained huge quantity
of papers from various papers manufacturing units which were
supplying these papers to India Security Press, Nasik. The
funds generated through the sale were used for acquiring 14
properties in posh localities of Mumbai or godowns for storing
the fake stamps and stamp papers. The syndicate also floated
transport firms for unhindered transportation of these counterfeits
from Mumbai to other places in the country.
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