JOIN USThe Mumbai Sessions Court on Wednesday sentenced fake stamp-paper forger Abdul Karim Telgi to life imprisonment and dismissed an application seeking to make Union Science and Technology Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh a co-accused in the case.
The court, while delivering the sentence, also convicted three sacked policemen –K K Parmar, A B Sonwalkar and Ganpat Jadhav- for abetting and allowing Telgi to flee.
Telgi, currently lodged in Bangalore jail, had told the court through video-conferencing: “I am suffering from diabetes, heart disease, kidney problem. Both my legs are paralysed.
“I need an urgent kidney operation. My health is deteriorating day by day. My wife is ill and on the death bed.
“My only daughter is of marriageable age and (there is) no other male member in my family.
“I pray for minimum sentence. I am penniless (and therefore) cannot pay the fine. I have been in judicial custody since November 7, 2011. I pray for leniency,” he told the court.
The fake stamp paper scam created waves in 2005, when Telgi and his two accomplices-Ramratan Soni and Sanjay Gaikwad- dropped names of political bigwigs as partners who aided them in the crime.
In his submission to the court, Soni alleged that the licence for stamp-paper distribution to Telgi was issued by Vilasrao Deshmukh’s office, contending that the former Maharashtra chief minister should also be made a co-accused.
However, the sessions court did not find any substantial evidence in his allegations.