By IANS,
Bangalore : A special sessions court Friday sentenced Abdul Karim Telgi, the kingpin in the multi-billion rupee fake stamp paper scam, to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs.125,000.
Along with Telgi, seven co-accused were also sentenced to jail for seven years with a fine of Rs.100,000 each in the first case registered in 1997 under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.
Former assistant police commissioner T.G. Sangram Singh, who was sentenced to three years’ rigorous imprisonment, was granted bail as he had already spent about 21 months in jail.
Pronouncing the judgement, sessions judge Chandrashekar Patil said Telgi and another co-accused Wazir Ahmed Salik would serve three-year jail term concurrently.
The other co-accused convicted with Telgi are Bhadruddin, Anand Thorat, Illiyaz Ahmed, Sohil Khan, Sadiq Ibrahim Hudli and Syed Moiuddin.
The special sessions court was set up by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the directive of the Supreme Court as the fake stamp paper racket had inter-state ramifications with nationwide impact.
Singh, who was the city market police station inspector and caught the accused, was found guilty of improper investigation and filing a weak case to help the accused escape legal action.
The judgement was read out to all the accused through a video-conferencing from the Agrahara central jail on the outskirts of the city.
Telgi’s counsel T.T. Nanaiah pleaded with the judge to remit the sentence as his client was ailing and his wife was ill.
Telgi was also sentenced in June 2007 to 13 years imprisonment with a fine of Rs.2.02 billion (Rs.202 crore) on various counts in a case related to the scam by the special court for Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA).