The Hindu : Stamp paper racket: Munde, Bhujbal trade charges

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 04, 2003

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Stamp paper racket: Munde, Bhujbal trade charges

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI MAY 3. A major racket in which counterfeit stamp papers worth Rs. 2,124 crores were seized last June has snowballed into a political scam in Maharashtra with the Opposition leaders, Gopinath Munde (BJP) and Narayan Rane (Shiv Sena), trading charges with the Deputy Chief Minister, Chagan Bhujbal.

At the centre of the controversy is Abdul Karim Ladsaab Telgi, a resident of Karnataka, and who, according to Mr. Bhujbal, enjoys the "substantial political support" of Mr. Munde.

Mr. Munde, said the Deputy Chief Minister, "telephoned me and asked me not to probe the role of a son of an independent MLA supporting the Opposition". However, Mr. Munde's version is that he had only asked that the MLA be not harassed if he was not involved. No reference had been made to the MLA's son who is said to have close links with Telgi.

Mr. Bhujbal's remarks came after Mr. Munde and Mr. Rane met the Governor, Mohd. Fazal, on April 30 and sought a CBI probe into the racket because "top police officials and Ministers, especially Mr. Bhujbal, have a role in this, protecting Telgi". Telgi, they said, had been found at Mr. Bhujbal's home some months ago when he was actually supposed to be in police custody in Mumbai. "This was brought to the Mumbai police's attention by Karnataka. Telgi is now in a Karnataka jail. How did this happen? And who was behind such a generous treatment of the prime accused in the racket," they asked.

The case is so enormous that all those who bought the fake stamp papers are being traced and asked to explain how they procured them.

The registration offices have switched to franking to overcome the flood of fake stamp papers. The blocks from which they were printed were allegedly acquired from the Security Press, Nashik.

Telgi, Mr. Bhujbal said, had been detained under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act along with 38 others, including three personnel from the Security Press. As many as 64 bank accounts had been probed to trace the flow of gains made from the racket.

He said that letters from some Central leaders requesting that the officials of the Security Press be not shifted had been seized from Telgi's residence. Police also had a tape of a conversation between Telgi and a former Andhra Pradesh Minister about a Rs. 2 crore demand. The Opposition intent, he said, was to have a CBI probe to "cover up" these angles.

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Stamp paper racket: Munde, Bhujbal trade charges