BANGALORE: The Special Court, trying stamp paper racket cases, on Friday convicted two persons holding them guilty of possessing and selling fake stamp papers. Judge Virupax V. Angadi will pronounce the sentence on Saturday.

The court convicted A. Kannan, a resident of Tamil Nadu, and Jairaj, a resident of Kerala. Kannan was caught by the City Crime Branch (CCB) police on the taluk office premises, near Cauvery Bhavan here, with 10 fake stamp papers of the face value of Rs. 5,000. The CCB police later found 35 fake stamp papers of the face value of Rs. 5,000 in Kannan's house.

On the information given by Kannan, the CCB police arrested Jairaj, Kannan's associate, at Grand Central Hotel in Madurai. He was found possessing 60 fake stamp papers of the face value of Rs. 5,000.

The CCB police found him possessing a treasury seal. A case was booked at the Ulsoor Gate police station limits here. The CCB first filed a charge sheet, while the Central Bureau of Investigation, which later investigated the case, filed an additional charge sheet.

Special Public Prosecutor Y.R. Jagadeesha adduced the evidence of seven witnesses, who included a representative of the India Security Press at Nasik, Maharashtra, and a retired Assistant Treasury Officer.

The judge imposed a fine of Rs. 20,000 each on the accused. He indicated that the prison sentence would be between five and seven years. Anees Ali Khan, the advocate for the accused, has been permitted to argue the plea to lower the period of imprisonment.

Second verdict

This is the second judgment in the stamp paper cases registered in Karnataka. The Special Court had convicted S. Krishnamurthy of Bangalore, Marimuttu and G. Raja of Coimbatore in April 2005. In both the cases, Abdul Kareem Telgi, the prime accused in the racket, is not an accused.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu