Telgi sentenced to jail
by Sushil Pareek

    Mumbai: The Special Court convicted Abdul Karim Telgi along with his two associates in connection with a 1995 case of selling fake stamps worth Rs 17 lakh here today. Telgi and his associates, Sanjay Gaikawad and Ramratan Soni were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment each and were charged Rs 50,000 fine each for their role in the conspiracy. The judgment against Telgi who is presently lodged in Yerawada Prison in Pune was declared by Special Judge U D Salvi. The hearing in itself was unique as Telgi was not present in the court and was connected to the court via video conferencing. Telgi urged the court to show leniency as he was suffering from HIV/AIDS and his wife was admitted to hospital.

   According to the prosecutor Pradeep Gharad, if convicted, the maximum punishment they could receive is life imprisonment but all of them pleaded with mercy on humanitarian grounds. Telgi, involved in 48 cases of circulating counterfeit stamps and stamp papers in different states. Two associates were acted as agents and were arrested by the MRA Marg police station in south Mumbai for their alleged complicity in circulating counterfeit stamps in the city in 1995. Gharat examined the first witness in the case, Manish Parekh, an advocate with the Poornanand and Company (Solicitors). The solicitors firm had ordered special adhesive stamps worth around Rs six lakh from Telgi. Seventeen witnesses were examined during the trial, which concluded on December 26, 2005. The prosecuting agency was CBI. 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.

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