Govt to SIT: Lighten your load

The Maharashtra government has ordered the Special Investigating Team to examine the merits of more than 80 cases of the fake stamp paper sc...

The Maharashtra government has ordered the Special Investigating Team to examine the merits of more than 80 cases of the fake stamp paper scam which could be transferred to the CBI.

The order comes after a Supreme Court directive asking the government to transfer the cases. The government is likely to submit a report on the transfer in 15 days. Senior officials of the agency said it is not certain whether all cases will be investigated by it. ‘‘A few relevant cases may be taken up for further perusal,’’ a senior CBI officer said. Police sources said majority of the cases were related to Bund Garden Police station in Pune. Some are filed at Kolhapur and Nashik. An estimated 48 cases are from Mumbai, particularly linking a few senior officers to the scam.

The investigating agency is expected to launch fresh investigations into other aspects of the scam such as transportation, storage and manufacture of counterfeit government stamps and stamp paper. The office of superintendent of stamps could also come under scrutiny, CBI officials said.

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The first case linking Abdul Karim Telgi was filed at Bund Garden police station on June 7, 2002. The local police seized a car containing fake stamps and stamp paper worth Rs 2,98, 794.

The matter took a curious twist when Pune ACP S.M. Mushrif levelled allegations against erstwhile Commissioner of Police R.S. Sharma after a chargesheet was filed on September 30. A special investigation team was formed under Sharma.

Mushrif said names of six people were included at the last minute without any reason assigned in the case diary.

They were Ali Eliyas Telgi, Abdul Rahim Ladsab Telgi, Parvez Abdul Rahim Telgi, Sahida Abdul Karim Telgi and Anilkumar Narayandas Shah. Mushrif had further alleged that Inspector Prakash Deshmukh and ACP M.C. Mulani had added the names to extort money from Telgi.