The Stamp Investigation Team (STAMPIT) in 2002 had registered a case following reports that Telgi was continuing illegal business from the central jail with the support of the jail staff.
This was one of the nine stamp paper racket cases transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation in 2004.
The 16 other convicted are - Nizamuddin, Rafi Ahmed, Sadashiva, Abdul Wahid, Abdul Khuddus, Sachin Kalage, Sarfaraz Nawaz, Illiyas Ahmed, Sadiq Ibrahim Hudli, Badruddin, Siddu, Mohammed Asif, Mansoor, Suleiman, Deepak and Jacob Chacko.
In his judgment running into 923 pages, Judge Chandrashekhar Patil has observed that there was not enough evidence to convict the accused under the KCOCA as the alleged offenses have occurred outside Karnataka.
The court has also acquitted 11 persons including Jayasimha and Nanjappa, staff of Bangalore Central Prison accused of helping Telgi to run the racket from the prison.
A total of nine cases were registered in the State against fake stampaper racket kingpin Telgi out of which he had been convicted in six cases. In one case, the conviction by the special court was quashed by the High Court last year. He was acquitted by the special court in two other cases. There are 42 cases pending against Telgi across the country.
Following the submission by special public prosecutor for the CBI, the court directed the Deputy Inspector General of Prisons to produce details of previous convictions.
Telgi’s advocate Shankarappa said that the conviction will be challenged in the High Court.
