Fake stamp case: Telgi admitted to Pune hospital

    Pune: The main accused in the fake stamp paper scam of 1995, Abul Karim Telgi was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Sassoon Hospital here today after he complained of chest pain. Telgi was hospitalised at about 10 a.m. after he complained of pain in the chest. His condition is better, hospital sources said. Telgi has been making in-camera confessional statement in a local court in connection with the scam, for the last two days. Telgi was produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, D W Modak on Monday after completion of magisterial custody for 48 hours to decide on his confession in the 1995 stamp case. The local court had on Saturday, remanded Telgi to magisterial custody for 48 hours to give him time before making his confession. A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) judge had last month directed a Magistrate in Pune to record his confession statement after other accused in the case said that they had no objection to the same. Last week, Telgi had expressed the desire to confess through video conferencing, saying he would like to tell the court about his alleged role in the cases against him and others lodged by the Cuffe Parade and Colaba police stations in 1995. The court said in these two cases, the trial had already begun and hence, Telgi could not be permitted to confess at this stage. But it allowed his confession in another case registered by Mumbai CID.

    Earlier last month, a Special Court had convicted Telgi and his associates, Sanjay Gaikawad and Ramratan Soni, and sentenced them to 10-years imprisonment along with Rs. 50,000 fine to each in connection with a case of selling fake stamps worth Rs.17 lakh in 1995. Telgi had urged the court to show leniency as she was suffering from HIV/AIDS and his wife was admitted to hospital. The trio were charged with IPC sections 255 (counterfeiting government stamps), 256 (possessing material for counterfeiting stamps), 258 (selling counterfeit stamps) 259 (possessing counterfeit stamps), 420 (cheating) read with 511 (punishment for counterfeiting) and 120-b IPC (conspiracy) read with all these sections. Besides, they were also charged with sections 63 A and 63 B of Bombay Stamp Act. The multi-crore scam involving the printing and selling of counterfeit stamp paper across seven States was an example of the nexus between politicians, senior police officials and other Government servants. Telgi had purchased the second-hand printing equipment from the India Security Press (ISP) in Nashik for printing the fake stamp paper.

Wildlife census begins in Mahananda  (Go To Top)

     Mahananda Sanctuary (West Bengal): Wildlife authorities in Mahananda sanctuary, home to about 300 wild elephants, began census of big cats to tap the number of pachyderms and leopards in the forest range. Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary in Siliguri constitutes the forests of the lower catchment area of the Mahananda River, and covers an area of 159.86 square kilometres. Officials said the census, which will take place till February 12, is a three-phased survey wherein pugmarks will be determined through GPS system. "This time, the census is in three phases and this is the first phase. We have taken the GPs readings of all the transacts. We have laid them down throughout our area and have divided our staff into teams so that a single team will handle a particular transact," said Ashok Singh, Attached Officer, Wildlife Division, Mahananda sanctuary. Besides ascertaining the actual number of elephants, the census is also aimed to collect relevant information about their habitat. The sanctuary is a home to elephants, Indian bison, tigers, leopards and cheetal. However, incidents of elephant poaching have been on the rise in recent times in the region. Frequent poaching has led to a decrease in the number of elephants in India, which has more than 50 percent of the world's Asiatic elephant population. There has been an increase in demand of the Asiatic tusker due to the sharp drop in elephant poaching in Africa. A survey in 2005 estimated that there were 25,000 to 28,000 elephants in India, including only 1,500 male tuskers of breeding age. Although trafficking of wildlife products is banned in India, poaching of animals for their skin, bones and body parts, continues. Environmentalists say the Government is not doing enough to protect the country's wildlife.

No bail to Daya Nayak, wife gets (Go To Top)

     Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday rejected the anticipatory bail plea of suspended police Sub-Inspector Daya Nayak while his wife's Komal was granted bail for a sum of RS 25,000 in connection with the same case. The court also rejected the bail plea of Nayak's associate Rajendra Padte in connection with possession of assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. Nayak also obtained one week interim protection to surrender. A special court had rejected the anticipatory bail pleas of Daya Nayak, his wife and Padte on February 2 while the Bombay High Court stayed the arrest of the three till the completion of the hearing in the case as the defence lawyers could not produce a copy of the special court's order which had rejected their bail plea. A special Judge S P Mahajan had rejected the bail pleas of the trio, paving the way for the police to take them into preventive custody in connection with a disproportionate assets case. Justice Mahajan rejected the bail pleas observing that there was a prima facie case against them. The ACB had opposed the bail plea, saying custodial interrogation of the accused was necessary. The ACB charged Nayak with possession of assets disproportionate to his sources of income, while his wife and Padte were booked for allegedly helping him in laundering of his ill-gotten wealth. On January 30, Prosecutor R V Kini had opposed the bail plea, saying the ACB had enough material to show that Nayak had assets disproportionate to his income (estimated at nearly two million dollars or RS 90 crores) and that the other two applicants had helped him launder the money. Nayak has submitted that the charges of his having wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income were false, and that it was a conspiracy hatched by rivals to "finish" his career. Komal had argued that as she was in service, her monetary transactions should not be linked to her husband Nayak. She said that even before her marriage she was working for Deve Paints (former Garware Paints) and monetary transactions questioned by the ACB were in her official capacity and had nothing to do with her husband. The ACB has also claimed that co-accused Manivellan, Director of Deve Paints, received RS 13 lakhs from Komal which supposedly belonged to Nayak. On January 25, the court had also asked Komal and Padte to submit their passports to the ACB. The court said that the passport of Nayak was already deposited with the Police Commissioner. Meanwhile, the Police are reportedly now looking at Nayak's involvement in Punjab's petrol-pump scam since his wife Komal is one of the directors of Ojus Housing Finance, one of the firms named in the scam.

Purandeswari takes charge as Minister, HRD (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: D. Purandeswari today assumed office as Minister of State for Human Resource Development Ministry. The daughter of the late N.T. Rama Rao, former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Purandeswari was born on April 27, 1959. After graduation in literature, she did a course in Gemology from Bombay Institute. She is a first term M.P. of the Lok Sabha from Bapatla, Andhra Pradesh. Talking informally to the media, Purandeswari said she will decide her priorities after proper familiarization of the Ministry. She described Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh as a very senior and able minister and expressed her happiness to work with him.

Babbar suspended from SP's primary membership (Go To Top)

    New Delhi: The cinestar-turned-politician, Raj Babbar was today suspended from the Samajwadi Party's primary membership on the charge of carrying 'anti-party' activities. Babbar's suspension came a day after the party decided to suspend him from the parliamentary party. This was announced today by Samajwadi Party (SP) general secretary and leader of the parliamentary party Ram Gopal Yadav, who also informed that "a three-member Disciplinary Action Committee (DAC) headed by senior party leader Kalyan Jain has been appointed to report within a week about the anti-party activities of Babbar." The other two members of the committee are party MP Udai Pratap Singh and Uttar Pradesh Minister Kwaja Haleem. Raj Babbar is presently representing Agra in the Lok Sabha and had few days ago criticised SP General Secretary Amar Singh by calling him a broker. He had also alleged that Singh has made the party bereaved of ideology and useful work and has gained status in the party by his sheer money power. Meanwhile, Babbar today said that he would not reconcile on the Amar Singh issue and added that "Why live in a house where there is no respect." He also refuted rumours of joining Congress, saying "Let them do whatever they want to do. I am in the party because I am emotionally attached to it."

Anil Ambani takes charge of four new ADAG firms (Go To Top)

     Mumbai: Anil Ambani took over as the Chairman of all four new companies handed over to him by the Mukesh Ambani Group on Tuesday as part of the final settlement between the two brothers. Confirming the news, company officials said on Wednesday that the decision to appoint Anil Ambani as the Chairman was taken at the respective Board meetings of the four companies -- Reliance Natural Resources Ltd, Reliance Energy Ventures LTD, Reliance Capital Ventures LTD and Reliance Communication Ventures LTD (RCoVL). They also confirmed that all the four companies would be listed on the stock exchanges shortly, with RCoVL expected to be the last one by March-end. Listing documents for REVL, RCVL and RNRL have already been filed with stock exchanges. Apart from Anil Ambani, Gautam Doshi, J Ramachandran and S P Talwar are on the Board of RCoVL, which would be the holding company for Reliance Infocomm. Directors in the Board of Reliance Natural Resources include S L Rao, Bakul Dholakia, J P Chalsani and J L Bajaj. Reliance Energy Ventures has Satish Sheth, V R Galkar and S L Rao as its Board members, while Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, Rajendra P Chitale and S P Talwar constitute the board of Reliance Capital Ventures. Ending a spat that had threatened to spin out of control on Tuesday, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) handed over the four companies created after the division of the Reliance empire to Anil Ambani's group. The handover to the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) came after a meeting here of the boards of the four demerged companies - Reliance Natural Resources Limited (RNRL), Reliance Communications Ventures Limited (RcoVL), Reliance Energy Ventures Limited (REVL), and Reliance Capital Ventures Limited (RCVL). RIL had cited the non-listing of the companies as the reason for not transferring management control to ADAG, even as the ownership had been transferred. This had led Anil Ambani to publicly complain that his elder brother was not following the terms of settlement that had been agreed to. The Bombay Stock Exchange had Februay 6 specified a "clear path" to list the four demerged companies.

Back to Headlines                  Go To Top