Former jail officials convicted in Telgi case

Two former top prison officials who were acquitted by the lower court were convicted by the High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday for facilitating Abdul Karim Telgi, the main accused in the multi-crore fake stamp paper case, to function despite being in prison.

Superintendent P N Jayasimha and assistant superintendent Nanjappa of the Central Prisons in Bengaluru during 2001-2002 have been convicted of helping Telgi carry out his illegal fake stamp paper operations even behind bars.

A division bench comprising Justice Ravi Malimath and Justice John Michael Cunha passed an order under provisions of Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

The bench expanded the scope of the section by not limiting it to only demand and acceptance but also facilitating the act of corruption.

‘A’ class prisoner facilities
CBI counsel P Prasanna Kumar contended that the former prison officials have been accused of allowing Telgi to get all the facilities of an ‘A’ class prisoner despite him being an undertrial then. They are accused of providing him a separate room and two other undertrials as his assistants. Violating the jail manual, they allowed Telgi to have a wooden door and curtains on his windows. They allowed Telgi to use several mobile phones to operate and to even meet other accused in the scam in the office of the prison officials even without making any entry in the visitors’ register.

The bench is expected to sentence the prison officials in the next hearing on Thursday.