Telgi

Mumbai, July 2: Abdul Karim Telgi may have spared the politicians in court amid the hint of a deal, but he would like to keep them under pressure.

India’s biggest fraudster has threatened a tell-all book.

“I don’t know about the actual contents, but Telgi says the book will reveal a lot of hidden truths,” his lawyer Harshad Nimbalkar said.

Telgi, handed a 13-year term last week, had shied away from naming the political leaders he had bribed to keep his fake stamp-paper racket running across more than a dozen states.

A source close to Telgi said the 46-year-old HIV patient had done so in the hope that it would guarantee him a comfortable stay in Yerawada Jail during his remaining years.

“But he is not so sure now. To protect himself, he has devised this new plan of writing a book. The threat will guarantee that the promises made to him by powerful politicians are kept,” the source said.

Telgi also has the option of spilling the beans in court when the rest of the 24 cases against him come up for hearing. He has decided to plead not guilty in each of them.

“He didn’t name anyone in the Bundgarden case last week because he thought it best to limit his answers to questions raised in the CBI chargesheet,” Nimbalkar said.

“The chargesheet didn’t mention any politician’s name; so he didn’t volunteer information. But the situation may be different in the other cases.”

Telgi expects to make a nice sum from his book, if he indeed plans to write and publish it.

“In the West, many publishing houses pay huge advances for such bare-all books. My client hasn’t been commissioned to write the book, but he plans to get in touch with publishers. It will be in English so that it can reach a wide audience,” Nimbalkar said.

The scam kingpin, handed a record Rs 251-crore fine after pleading guilty in the undgarden case, has said he hasn’t the money to pay it. Failure to pay the fine will mean another jail term.

“Initially, we thought he would have to be in jail for an additional three years and three months. But the court order doesn’t specify if failure to pay the fine will lead to concurrent jail terms or a compounded one,” the lawyer said.

It may be a while before that becomes clear, because judge Chitra Bhide was transferred immediately after the sentencing last Thursday.