Mumbai, Feb. 11: The special investigation team probing the stamp paper scam will question former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and former deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal.

The duo will be the seniormost politicians to be questioned in the multi-crore scam.

Deshmukh and Samajwadi Janata Party MLA Anil Gote are alleged to have helped scam mastermind Abdul Karim Telgi to get his initial stamp vendor’s licence. Tests conducted on Telgi have thrown up evidence that part of the money found its way to Bhujbal’s pocket.

Gote and Telugu Desam Party MLA C. Krishna Yadav are in jail for their links with Telgi.

The investigators have submitted to a special Pune court a report based on a narco-analysis test conducted on Telgi, which says the mastermind spilled the beans after being put in a hypnotic trance induced by an injection containing sodium pentothal, the truth serum.

Dates have not been confirmed for their interrogation, but the investigators say Deshmukh, now a Congress general secretary, and Bhujbal, still an influential NCP leader, will be questioned. “Since their names have been mentioned in the test results, how can we not call them for questioning,’’ a senior SIT officer said. “It will have to be done sooner or later,’’ he added.

An uncomfortable Sushil Kumar Shinde, Deshmukh’s successor as chief minister, said: “He (Deshmukh) has said that he has nothing to do with the scam and that he will cooperate. At this point there is nothing more I would like to say on this.”

Both Bhujbal and Deshmukh have denied any wrongdoing. Deshmukh said: “If (the) SIT requires any information from me, I will provide it. But I am not involved in this. Back in 1994, Anil Gote, who was a Loksatta reporter then, had brought Telgi’s application for a licence to me. I did not bother to make enquiries as he was a journalist.”

The former chief minister said he forwarded the application to Radheshyam Mopalwar, the superintendent of stamps. “In March 1994, Mopalwar granted the licence after getting a clearance from the police. Had the police done their homework, then this scam would not have happened.’’ Bhujbal has argued that a “criminal’s allegations are being taken at face value to malign me and finish off my political career’’.

Elsewhere, Gote today shouted from inside the police van in which he was being taken to a court that the SIT was involved in a massive cover-up. “I, too, should be given a chance to reveal certain things in court. Some of those people whom Telgi has named, including Bhujbal, are still out. Some others, both politicians and policemen whose names have cropped up, have not been arrested,” he said.