The Notorious Fruit-seller Who Looted Rs 30,000 Cr From Indian Govt, Know About Abdul Karim Telgi, The Man Behind Multi-crore Counterfeit Stamp Paper Scam

Abdul Karim Telgi was the kingpin of the multi-crore fake stamp paper scam that shook the country nearly two decades ago.

New Delhi: While the Harshad Mehta scam threw the Indian economy and stock market in disarray in 1992, there is another scam, the magnitude of which is couple of times bigger than that. Abdul Karim Telgi, the Notorious Fruit-Seller is said to have looted Rs 30,000 crore from the Indian Government via the counterfeit stamp paper scam that came into light in 2003.

Abdul Karim Telgi, A Notorious Fruit-Seller To Kingpin Of The Multi-Crore Scam

Telgi, born Karnataka's small village in 1956, started his career as a fruit seller. He later tried his hands on travel business too during which get got involved into illegal work that included selling fake immigration documents to people who wanted to work in Gulf countries. Telgi was arrested on charges of forgery and cheating in 1991 and was sent to Jail. His jail term became the starting point of what would later be unfolded as multi-crore scam in the Indian system. In Jail, Telgi got the idea of making fake stamp papers.

During his jail term, he learned that stamps are being printed at a printing factory close to Nashik's railway station. After coming out of jail, Telgi managed to acquire an outdated machine at the auction which he purchased and fixed. He started bogus stamps from that machine with the support of a well network of 100 people.

He started printing and selling fake government legal papers - called “stamp papers” - which were used by millions of Indians to sell and buy property and seal other legal transactions.

He had very well networked machinery where he would grease the palms of high officials and get going further in his vicious business.

Abdul Karim Telgi Conviction And Jail

Telgi was sentenced to 30 years rigorous imprisonment in 2006, besides being slapped with a whopping fine of Rs 202 crore. He was sentenced for producing fake stamp paper along with his agents, and allegedly selling it to banks, insurance companies and brokerage firms.

Initially the scandal was said to involve $660 million worth of “stamp papers”, but police and prosecutors said the real figure could be 10 times higher (figures estimated it to be Rs 30,000 Crore).

Abdul Karim Telgi Death

He had been lodged in the Parapana Agrahara central jail in Bengaluru for 16 years. Abdul Karim Telgi died of multi-organ failure at a government hospital in 2017. In a probe spanning 14 years, more than 100 people across several states, including police, politicians and government officials, were arrested over the scam - many of them later acquitted for lack of evidence.

In his home district in southern Karnataka, Telgi had something of a Robin Hood image and is known for giving money and clothes to the poor, donating funds to churches, temples and mosques and helping struggling locals with wedding costs.

Web Series On Abdul Karim Telgi Scam

A sequel to the popular series "Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story" by Hansal Mehta is planned as "Scam 2003: The Curious Case of Abdul Karim Telgi", according to the show's creators.

The 2003 stamp paper scandal and its culprit, the late Indian counterfeiter Abdul Karim Telgi, would be the subject of the upcoming season. It is said to be the adaptation of an English translation of journalist Sanjay Singh's Hindi book "Reporter Ki Diary".