Telgi: Stamp of shame

New Delhi, Dec. 22: Tax sleuths hot on the trail of stamp paper scamster Abdul Karim Telgi have identified and seized some 46 properties owned by Telgi in Mumbai, Bangalore and Belgaum.

Top revenue officers involved in the investigation told The Telegraph that in tracing the black money earned by Telgi through his now notorious stamp paper fraud, they have managed to seize, besides immovable property, some 125 bank accounts in various names and aliases.

“We are examining the transactions which Telgi conducted through these accounts and checking any possible hawala links as well as possible details of pay-offs to various beneficiaries,” officials said. Sleuths from other agencies have been working on the theory that Telgi had paid off not only key policemen but also leading politicians in a bid to get protection for his racket.

Tax sleuths are working in close co-ordination with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and state investigation teams to check out on the money Telgi’s operations spawned.

“Hot money leads can give us an idea of who all were his accomplices and to what extent his network spread,” officials said.

Telgi’s seized assets include six prime properties in Mumbai, thirteen in Bangalore and 27 in Belgaum. These include flats, bungalows and offices in posh areas.

Income tax sleuths said that till now they had managed to identify about Rs 50 crore worth of transactions through the 125 accounts seized. “More detailed examination of the accounts are on and further leads are being unravelled,” they said.

Telgi had used printing machines junked by the Indian Security Press to perpetrate what is now being called the biggest scam in modern India. The presses, it is alleged, were in good condition and it is said he used influence with top officers to have them discarded.

The scamster, who began life in a small village in Karnataka’s Bijapore district, learnt the science of faking stamp papers while in Bangalore prison for alleged involvement in a job racket.

Besides buying security printing machinery, Telgi is also believed to have bribed employees into selling him negatives and positives to print the fake stationery. He is also believed to have created an artificial scarcity of stamp papers in collusion with Security Press officials.

Worried by the the extent of the scam, the government plans to soon introduce a pilot project to dematerialise stamp papers using a computer-based system which will link all states.

The finance ministry eventually wants all states to have a computer based secure demat set-up which would link up nationally. Stamp papers are used to record transactions ranging from swearing out of affidavits and bequests to sale and mortgage of property and financial assets.

The move to dematerialise them and record them digitally “will ensure not only safety from any future stamp paper scams but also secure citizens from fraudulent property deals, misapropriation of inheritances. Cases related to such offences are currently clogging the law courts and we feel that a demat based set-up would help all concerned,” said top officials.