Former Mumbai Police Commissioner R S Sharma and two other police officers were on Wednesday discharged in one of the cases of the multi-crore fake stamp case after a special court found lack of evidence against them.

In a severe setback to the prosecution in the multi-crore fake stamp scam, the Special MCOCA Court here discharged  Sharma, ex-DCP Mumbai crime branch Pradeep Sawant and suspended Inspector Vashisht Andhale from the five-year-old case for lack of evidence.

The three police officers, who were in judicial custody before being granted bail, on heard the pronouncement discharging them from the high-profile case by Special Judge Chitra K Bhedi, who said there was no evidence against them.

Sharma, who was in line for the Maharashtra DGP’s post when he was arrested a few years ago, has since retired. The court had on Tuesday discharged a former stamp vendor Madhav Mutta Devadia, who later was working as an office boy in one of the firms of Abdul Karim Telgi, the alleged kingpin in the multi-crore fake stamp case.

A relieved Sharma told reporters, “I had been framed by some officials of the SIT who conspired against me out of professional jealousy. The fake stamp case was busted in Pune during my tenure. Charges have been framed against all those who were arrested by me and those arrested by the SIT have been discharged by the court.”Sharma, a former police commissioner of Pune and Mumbai, was arrested immediately after his retirement by the Special Investigation Team of the Maharashtra Police five years ago.

Once a front-runner for the post of Director General of Police in the state, the allegations that he facilitated the fake stamp case syndicate by going slow on the probe eventually became a blot on his otherwise chequered career.

Subsequent to his arrest, Sharma applied for bail in the Special MCOCA Court and Bombay High Court which rejected it. However, his application for bail was granted by the Supreme Court last year. The other two police officers Sawant and Andhale were also granted bail by the higher judiciary.

The Bundgarden fake stamp case, one of the biggest amongst all registered in different states, was busted in 2002 after a car carrying fake stamps and fake stamp papers was intercepted by the police in the Bundgarden area of Pune.

Ever since the court began reading charges under various sections of the IPC and Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act on Tuesday, some 34 of the 68 accused, including Shahida, (Telgi’s wife), have pleaded guilty in the last two days.

Telgi decides to plead guilty
Pune, PTI: Fake stamp case kingpin Abdul Karim Telgi has decided to plead guilty before the Special MCOCA Court here on Thursday, his lawyer Milind Pawar said.During the course of the hearing on Wednesday, Telgi conveyed his desire after 43 co-accused in the case had pleaded guilty in the multi-crore fake stamp case before Special Judge Chitra K Bhedi.

Telgi personally submitted before the court that he was willing to plead guilty and sought time till Thursday, to which the court agreed, warning that if Telgi does not plead guilty it will impose fine on him.